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BT 



ANNA ELLA CARROLL, 

AUTHOR OF TEE "GREAT AWKfUCAN BATTLE," ETC. 



" Our Country's glory is our chief concern : 
For this we struggle, and for this we burn ; 
For this we smile, for this alone we sigh ; 
For this we live, for this would freely die." 



BOSTON: 

JAMES FRENCH AND COMPANY, 

NEW YORK : 

MILLER, ORTON & MULLIGAN. 

1856. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

W. S. TISDALE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



In another edition of the present volume ■will appear these addi- 
tional Chapters, viz : 

"The American Navy, with the Navt Board Unmasked." To 
which is appended a Biography of Capt. Levy, of the U. S. Navy. 

" The CnuRcn of Rome a Political Corporation." 
" Convents and the Confessional." 

" The Necessity of a Practical Protesvant Education for Amer 
ICAN Citizens," &c. &c. 



^ 



. ^ 






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^., , , .^^ . . x-t-* 



L 



Stereotyped hy 

nOBART 4 Ronuiss, 

N«w EDglaud Tjpe md Sttrtolyp* FoundciT, 



^^ 



gfJi'itatioii;. 



When the principles of the government are at stake, 
true patriotism, which rises above party, above selfish 
aspirations, or a thought of personal aggrandizement, is 
invested with peculiar value, and becomes an object of 
increased respect. And when we find one whose past life 
and present action furnish a clear record of devotion to 
principle for principle's sake ; one who has always stood 
in the van of the great American battle, and freely encoun- 
tered the adversary, giving his means with his energies ; 
and who will adhere tenaciously to the cause he knows to 
be just, and to men he believes to be true, without regard 
to the labor or sacrifice which may inure to himself, wc 
cannot but offer him as an example to others to pursue a 
course alike honorable and patriotic. 

Such a man is 

CHESTER DRIGGS, OF NEW YORK CITY; 

and when to this strong patriotic feeling is added his high 
moral excellence and worth, his public spirit, energy, and 
enterprise, as a citizen of the great commercial mart of the 
western world, we feel pride and pleasure in dedicating, 
as we now do, this national volume to the true American, 
Chester Driggs, 



i 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

THE UNION OF THE STATES, 3 

THE PACIFIC RAILROAD, 65 

ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES, . . . .119 

CENTRAL AMERICA, ICD 

REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIONS, 21G 

BioGKAPmcAL Sketch of Hon. Erastus Brooks, .... IGl 
" " " Hon. Edwix 0. Perrix, .... 349 

" " Col. Gardner B. Locke, . . , 351 

" " Alfred B. Ely, 352 

" " Mr. Sidney Kossman, .... 355 
" " Thos. H. Clay, Esq., . . .358 

" " Gen. Nathan Ranney, .... 3G0 



« 
(( 



J. 

I 








/^A^iA^ 




PR.AKKLiIM 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 



CHAPTER I. 

• 

" What God in his mercy and wisdom designed, 
And armed with his weapons of thunder, 
Not all the earth's despots and factions combined 
Have the power to conquer or sunder ! " 

Americans, let us see how the first stones were 
gathered, and the foundation of this Union laid. 
It began under great tribulation ; but God over- 
ruled its origin, and has been its great support. 

A reformed church of "poor people," or those 
in moderate circumstances, called Puritans, dwelt 
in England at the close of the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, and lived in the villages of Lincolnshire, 
Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire. 

These people, under their pastor, John Robin- 
son, were assailed day and night by the ministers 
of the ecclesiastical tyranny which governed and 
swayed England. 



4 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

At greut suffering and peril, they resolved to 
seek safety by exile, in Holland. In 1C07, their 
first attempt to leave England was arrested, under 
King James, and some of the Puritans were im- 
prisoned ; but they had an unfrequented heath in 
Lincolnshire, where they continued to worship ; 
and, on procuring the release of their wives and 
children, in 1 GO 8, they were successful in making 
their escape to Amsterdam. 

From Amsterdam, these Puritans went to Ley- 
den, under the guidance of Robinson and Brews- 
ter, and there betook themselves to industrial pur- 
suits of all kinds, which fitted them for their future 
but unsuspected destiny. The desire to advance 
the Gospel in the Now AVorld, the cherished idea 
of their minds, finally induced them to turn their 
thoughts to the settlements in America. Still, the 
Pilgrims loved their native soil, their native lan- 
guage, and their Anglo-Saxon liberty ; and so 
deep was the love of country yet implanted in their 
affections, that they sought the protection of the 
English government for the colony they projected 
in the western M'orld. 

John Carver and William Bradford repaired to 
London, and succeeded, after a negotiation of two 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 5 

years, in obtaining a patent for the Plymouth Com- 
pany. After an absence of twelve years from their 
native land, these exiles made ready for embarking 
across the ocean. They sold their estates, and 
used their money in fitting out two vessels for the 
purpose ; but these could accommodate only a part 
of the congregation. 

These Pilgrims sailed from Delfthaven, near 
Leyden, via Southampton, for America, after being 
a fortnight in England. But the Speedwell proved 
not to be seaworthy, and they returned to Dart- 
mouth for repairs. Finding, however, that this 
vessel could not be trusted for such a voyage, they 
left Dartmouth for Plymouth, where, with one 
hundred souls, they embarked, on the 17th of Sep- 
tember, 1620, for America. Their small vessel, 
the Mayflower, consisted of only one hundred and 
eighty tons ; and after a passage of sixty-three 
days, it reached the harbor of Cape Cod, and this 
precious cargo of human souls was landed on the 
Rock of Plymouth Dec. 22d, 1620. 

While the Mayflower was at anchor, the form 

of government to which they should conform, as 

one people, was seriously discussed ; and, after 

prayer and thanksgiving to almighty God, an instru- 

1* 



6 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

ment or compact was drawn, to which forty-one of 
the crew subscribed their names ; the rest of the 
one hundred being the wives and children of these 
men. 

This, Americans, was the first republic erected 
in America, and is the most remarkable instance 
of the true spirit of liberty upon the record of his- 
tory. Think of a colony, under the sanction of 
a royal charter, from an English monarch, coming, 
under the inspiration of God and liberty, to plant 
upon American soil republican freedom ! 

Here is the document : 

PLYMOUTH C03IPACT. 

*'In the name of God, amen! We, whose 
names are underwritten, the royal subjects of our 
dread Sovereign, King James, having undertaken 
for the glory of God and advancement of the Chris- 
tian faith, and honor of our King and country, a 
voyage to plant the first colony in the northern part 
of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and 
mutually, in the presence of God and of one 
another, covenant and combine ourselves together 
into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and 
preservation ; and, in furtherance of the ends 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 7 

aforesaid, constitute and frame such just and equal 
laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, 
from time to time, as shall be thought most con- 
venient for the good of the colony. 

' ' Unto which we promise all due submission and 
obedience." 

Signed by John Carver, William Brewster, Ed- 
ward Winslow, and forty-one in all. 

For five thousand years this vast continent lay 
upon the bosom of the deep, occupied by untutored 
man, of the manner and the date of whose origin 
here we have no account ; but a passage is supposed 
to have been effected across Behring's Straits, where 
Asia and America are separated by only forty miles. 
This continent, nearly as large as Europe and 
Africa united, extending on both sides of the equa- 
tor, lying between the western shore of Europe and 
Africa, and the east of Asia, surrounded by groups 
of islands on either ocean, presented an impenetra- 
ble mystery to the eastern world. 

Xot less remarkable has been the unparalleled 
development of liberty, growing out of the desire 
for a retreat for freedom to worship God. The 
Husuenots of the South came to this land under the 



b THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

same inspiration, and suffered even more by perse- 
cution. Americans, can the conviction that these 
were the men whose views were carried out in 
founding this republic now be slighted? We are 
the only people strong, courageous, and free — 
the only nation which has the element of dura- 
bility. When the flag of our country was borne 
to Mexico, after so long a period of profound peace, 
it was prophesied by all the world we were to 
meet an ignominious defeat ; but when the first flash 
was seen, and the first thunder of cannon heard, 
American men, who had lived only to protect their 
homes and firesides, rushed to the scene of action, 
and fought so gloriously and so triumphantly that 
the world was lost in admiration at their victories. 
With our little army of eight or ten thousand op- 
posed to eight or ten millions of Mexicans, added 
to barriers which nature had made seemingly in- 
surmountable, Americans, under the free spirit 
which formed the republic on the Mayflower, 
fought like soldiers, and died like freemen ! 

The same God Avhich had taken the English 
Pilgrim and set him on Plymouth Rock led the 
French Huguenot to the South. It was the genius, 
the heroism, the instinct, of liberty. So have the 



THE UNION OF TUE STATES. 9 • 

North and South, when great principles were at 
stake, commingled as one spirit and one blood ! 
From the days of '7G, to the day Gen. Scott, at 
the head of the American army, caused Santa Anna 
to lay down the sword and boAV to the supremacy 
of American arms, the North and the South knew 
no section, divided no interest, when a -common 
danger perilled our existence as a free people. 

In 1792, we were thirteen poor and compara- 
tively feeble states. The whole cotton crop did 
not exceed three hundred and fifty-seven bales. 
After Whitney's cotton-gin machine was invented, 
in 1794, there was an increase in its growth, and 
in 1795 it amounted to three thousand seven hun- 
dred and fifty bales. Now, we are a people count- 
ing thirty millions, with thirty-one states, and an 
expansive territory, out of which many others will 
ultimately be made. The constitutions of most of 
the old states have been altered. Vast resources 
are being developed, and our cotton-bales count 
annually nearly four millions. 

The United States are yet only in their infancy. 
The growth of their marketable staples, their agri- 
cultural resources, and their annual incomes, is 
beyond all present calculations, as well as the 



10 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

benefits of commerce and art, Avhicli we cannot 
even conjecture. 

Our representative government, our religious 
freedom, our trial by jury, our free press, and 
other attributes of Anglo-American liberty, urge 
this people to extend themselves under peaceful 
arts, and to cherish perpetually the compact of the 
Union, as the only bond, the everlasting bond, of 
our national life, and faith, and action. 

Ancient Rome excited glorious patriotism by 
heaping bright garlands upon her living sons ; 
but her nationality and pride forbade her stop- 
ping there. She looked behind, and forgot not 
the founders of her political edifice. How much 
more than Romans should we Americans cherish 
the sacred ashes of our dead, who gave the Union 
its fair proportions, and taught the lesson of self- 
denial and conciliation by which it must be pre- 
served ! 

Josiah Quincy went from Boston to Charleston, 
South Carolina, to enlist the Huguenots with the 
descendants of the Puritans for our independence, 
— the descendants of men who were answered in 
their last prayer, and shown by God the way to 
this their promised land. 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 11 

When the Union was endangered for the third 
time, in 1850, J. C. Calhoun, of South Curuliua, 
discoursed upon this bond of attachment which 
bound together Massachusetts and Carolina, and 
declared, with rapture, shortly before he died, that 
it was as indissoluble as ever. 

Webster, too^ who first read the constitution on 
a cotton handkerchief, wanted that constitution to 
give its rights to all parts of the Union. When 
Avarned, in 1850, that his course on the comprom- 
ise would endanger his hopes for the presidency, 
the triumph of the Union over selfish ambition 
showed itself, as he exclaimed, "I would not 
swerve a hair to be president." 

Henry Clay, dear to the hearts of millions, from 
this same loA^e of the Union, was warned in 1839, 
in the Senate, by William C. Preston, of South 
Carolina, against unnecessarily exciting the aboli- 
tionists, as it might interfere with the aspirations 
he then enjoyed for the presidency. The great 
American's prompt response is above all Greek or 
Roman fame — "I had rather be riglit than be 
president!" The abolitionists became ever after 
his unrelenting foes, and, in connection with ^Mr. 
Buchanan's false charge of bribery, of which Bu- 



12 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

clianan himself was the sole author, and the Romish 
hierarchy, defeated his prospects and blighted the 
hopes of his friends forever. 

Americans, for the fourth time our national 
existence is in peril ! Its first danger was under 
Madison ; second, under Jackson ; third, under 
Taylor and Millard Fillmore ; and lastly, under 
Franklin Pierce, our jDresent chief magistrate. 

Under the administration of Gen. Taylor, three 
Southern States of the Union submitted the question 
to the people whether they should remain in the 
Union. Officers of the army and navy were then 
sounded, to see if they would declare for a Southern 
republic. They declared for the Union as it is, 
under the American flag. All the Southern States 
but one did likewise. It was the Roman firmness 
of Mr. FiUmore, after the death of Taylor, that 
saved the Union in 1850. 

The treaty of peace, which acknowledged our 
national independence, in 1783, was not only highly 
honorable to us, but England made far greater 
concessions to us than she did at that time to Spain 
or France. In 1785, Congress elected John Adams, 
by ballot, as the first minister to Great Britain ; 
and on the 25th of May of that year, the King of 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 13 

England, ^vllo had waged war upon us as subjects, 
and attempted to brow-beat us as menials, was 
humiliated to a public reception of our national 
ambassador, who represented the new republic. 
Keenly did England feel the blow w^hich had forced 
her, before mankind, to recognize our power and 
dignity among the nations of the earth. George 
the Third, the king, received Mr. Adams by a 
speech, to which Mr. Adams replied. He w^as 
afterwards presented to the queen, who also had a 
kind word to say of "America and Americans." 
"You are not," said the king to Mr. Adams, 
"like the most of your countrymen, attached to 
France." "I have no attachment but to my 
native country," said Mr. Adams. "An honest 
man will have no other," said the king. And this 
was the feeling under which wc were baptized a 
free people. 

Messrs. Jay, Adams, and Franklin, were sent 
to Paris to obtain formal protection to our com- 
merce. But while other European nations entered 
readily into treaties of commerce, England refused 
to do so, and during the six years of our confeder- 
acy after peace, no minister was sent to America. 
Mr. Adams, failins: to induce Great Britain to 
9, 



14 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

send a minister, or to form a treaty of commerce, 
returned home in 1787. 

After the Union was organized, the strength and 
dignity of the government were felt by all foreign 
nations, and respected. Gen. Washington re- 
quested Governeur Morris, who was in Europe, to 
see if England would then send a minister ; to 
which she readily acceded, and George Hammond 
presented his credentials from that court in Au- 
gust, 1791. 

The strength and dignity obtained for the gov- 
ernment by the Union of the States were at once 
felt and manifested by foreign powers. In 1793, 
when France declared war against England, Gen. 
Washington issued his celebrated proclamation for 
neutrality, and recommended to Congress that a 
special messenger be sent to England, to aid Mr. 
Pinckney, of South Carolina, already our accred- 
ited minister to that court. General Washington 
determined to save the Union, but just formed ; and, 
in defiance of the unpopularity of this measure, to 
preserve the policy of neutrality. He therefore 
immediately nominated John Jay, and hence the 
treaty which laid the foundation of this Union's 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 15 

commercial prosperity, and made its basis still 
more impregnable. 

And now, Americans, it is the firmness of the 
Union, its celebrity, its prosperity, its past happi- 
ness, attained under our free and fair constitution, 
which has struck terror to Europern despots, and 
made them tremble on their thrones. This gov- 
ernment is the only one upon earth which meets 
the wants of the masses, and embraces, as far as 
its limits extend, the entire continent under the 
shadow of its protecting wings. Under its wise 
laws and benign policy, nothing can stay our na- 
tional progress, — nothing, nothing ! The bravest, 
the freest, the most energetic people on the face 
of the globe-, have been born under the flag of the 
American States. 

Look, my countrymen, at the resources of your 
mighty republic, and see how the Union has devel- 
oped them ! Look at your territory, and see how 
the Union, in its triumphant march, has expanded 
its boundaries from a fragment to a continent ! 
Look at your inventive genius, your skilful artists, 
the busy hum of internal trade, the multiplied 
products of healthy sinews and free labor, and see 
how the Union has prospered you ! Look at your 



16 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

sublime mountaius, your magnificent rivers, your 
luxuriant prairies, your vast and beautiful lakes, 
your exliaustless mines of gold and silver, and 
your rich and beneficent soil, and see why your 
population has swelled from two million five hun- 
dred thousand to thirty millions, in eighty years ! 

It is the Union of these States, under the great- 
est and best form of government human wisdom 
ever conceived, that has done it all. It is the cup 
of love and peace, which has been drunk from the 
fountain of the constitution, by the whole popula- 
tion. The nation, from all points of our compass, 
have met in the circling bond of the Union, and 
clasped the piUars of the constitution with united 
heart and hand ; and, under the inspiration of its 
proud stars and stripes, have exchanged the grate- 
ful and joyful tokens of faith and affection. 

What should be the cry of all the inhabitants of 
this land, but "The Constitution and the Union 
forever ! " With this glow of magnanimity, with 
this cry of patriotism, traitors and emissaries 
from without can as easily upturn the ocean 
from its bed, or tear the pillars of the Alleghany 
from their deep foundations, as to break up this 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 17 

government by the dissolution of this blessed, 
blood-bought, heaven-descended Union. 

We know full well the jealousy of foreign des- 
pots. To arrest our "manifest destiny," by the 
destruction of republicanism, is the ceaseless aim 
of the despotisms of Europe, to favor their own 
self-preservation. Russia, England, France, Aus- 
tria, Eome, Spain, and every other monarcliical 
and despotic government, now swell with joy to 
witness internal dissensions which threaten a sev- 
erance of the states ; but how much more would 
they exult in its actual occurrence ! Philip of 
Macedon, when he set about conquering Greece, 
did not invade it by an aggressive army, but by 
creating and cherishing dissensions among the 
states of Greece. So it is now with European 
governments. They feel the moral as well as the 
political reaction upon them of the United States. 
They know that the principles upon which the 
Union is founded are subversive of European aris- 
tocracies. They were aware of the sympathy of 
Americans with the struggling patriots of Greece, 
— with the struggling patriots of Italy, in tlie 
revolution of '48, — and the moral influence which 
ever reacts in favor of a people panting for free- 



18 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

dom. They behold, with secret wonder and envy, 
the rapid growth of the United States in power 
and greatness. 

England — we speak of her government partic- 
ularly — is jealous of us, because she is monarchi- 
cal, and moves in the reciprocal sympathies of the 
other monarchies of Europe. But the great body 
of her people are strongly opposed to a war with 
the United States. When we speak of England, 
therefore, we more particularly speak of her gov- 
ernment, which found, in 1812, that no thunder 
could be obtained by her arms in a contest with 
the Americans. Her oligarchy try a more quiet 
course of action, to sow dissension, and reap the 
benefit of contention, among the states, by favor- 
ing any symptoms of disaffection which may spring 
up to disturb our happy Union. In this unholy 
antagonism, the press of Europe has heaped its 
slanders upon us. But its praise or blame neither 
disturbs our sleep, nor intercepts our influence and 
onward march. 

Our commercial marine, on the high seas, is 
greater than that of France or England, — perhaps 
both united ; and, in case of danger, our marine 
and fishermen would supply our navy. England 



THE UXION OF TUE STATES. 19 

fears our strength, Avliile she feels our cotton and 
breadstuffs essential to her very existence. These 
motives constrain her to Jesuitical cautiousness in 
her attempts to divide the Union, by which she 
expects to treat with both North and South on her 
own terms. 

Once let England, France, Austria, Russia, and 
Prussia, send us representative men, — men of 
large ideas, who can understand the principles of 
our political machinery, and faithfully report the 
progress and development of our country at home, 
— then the value and the permanence of the 
Union can be appreciated, and much useless ex- 
penditure of money and time may be averted. 

Bat who is it that now cries out, "Join us, to 
save the Union " ? Americans, it is the very 
party — the democratic party — who have shown 
the people, by their acts, that they are not compe- 
tent to administer the government of our country. 
The Missouri Compromise law, which was framed 
to give peace and perpetuity to the Union, and the 
repeal of which was in all respects the most atro- 
cious act ever perpetrated by the representatives 
of the people, was the achievement, of the demo- 



20 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

cratic party, under an imbecile democratic presi 
dent. 

Americans, the day has come when you must 
not and will not be deceived by these specious 
pretences of loving the Union ; and it is idle for 
that party, which has more than once endangered 
it, longer to attempt to cheat the people. What 
are the facts from the records of history ? At the 
time the government of the United States was 
formed under the constitution, there was a large 
tract of land lying north-west of the Ohio Eiver, 
called, on that account, the North-west Territory ; 
and, to have all those who participated in the 
battles of the Revolution possess a common right 
to it, our fathers passed a law called the Ordi- 
nance of 1787, which prohibited slavery in all 
the territory then belonging to the United States. 
In 1803, we acquired, by a treaty under Mr. Jef- 
ferson, another tract of land, known as Louisi- 
ana Territory ; and as the Ordinance of '87 had 
reference only to the North-west Territory exclu- 
sively, and not to that which the framers of the 
constitution never supposed we would possess, agi- 
tation at once was created between the North and 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 21 

South as to the motlo of disposing of the slave 
question on their new territory. 

In a little while the State of Missouri was 
formed out of a part of the Louisiana Territory, 
and knocked for admission into the Union at the 
door of Congress. The South, at that time, was 
in a minority in Congress, and i!; was therefore in 
the power of the North to admit Missouri as a 
slave state, or to reject it, and insist that the law 
of 1787, which forbade the extension of the insti- 
tution of slavery into the North-west Territory, 
should be made also to apply to the Louisiana 
Territory. 

Finally, the South introduced the famous Mis- 
souri Comproinise, and it was passed by Southern 
votes. It is true a Northern man introduced the 
measure ; but the proposition came from the South, 
and was supported by the South. The South said 
to the North, " If you will allow us — you being 
in the majority, and having the control — if you 
will permit us to carry slavery up to the line of 
36 deg. 30 min., we will pledge ourselves not to 
attempt to carry slavery beyond 30 deg. 30 min." 
They said, " We will allow every state south of 36 
deg. 30 min., that chooses, to adopt slavery or 



22 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

reject it, as they please ; " but, if they come to Con- 
gress, as Missouri has done, you will make no 
opposition to their admission on the ground of 
slavery, whether it is in or out of their consti- 
tution. • 

In the Senate of the United States every 
senator from the South voted for this Missouri 
Compromise, but two, and every senator from tlie 
North voted against it, hwifour. There were then 
eighteen Northern votes cast in opposition to it, 
and but two Southern votes ; Mr. Macon, of North 
Carolina, and Mr. Smith, of South Carolina. 
When the bill went to the House of Representa- 
tives, it passed by one hundred and thirty-four to 
forty-two votes. Forty Southern representatives 
went for it, and thirty-seven against it. Mr. Clay, 
Mr. Lowndes, and others from the South, were the 
chief advocates of the measure ; and the history 
of the events of that day demonstrates with what 
enthusiasm that Compromise of 1820 was received 
by the whole South. Mr, Monroe was President 
at that period, and before he signed the law it was 
submitted to Wm. II. Crawford, J. C. Calhoun, 
and Wm. Wirt, Southern members of his cabinet, 
who were unanimous as to its constitutionality. 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 23 

To this law, then, the integrity and honor of the 
South was pledged. And now, Americans, mark 
the conduct of this democratic party ! They 
waited to people all the territory that could be 
populated by slaves, and then disturbed the peace 
and prosperity of the country by attempting to 
take what of right belongs to the North ; for Mis- 
souri, Arkansas, and Florida, could have all been 
kept out of the Union, if the North had seen fit. 

The Missouri Compromise being applied to the 
Louisiana Territory, all settled down in peace, 
until the annexation of Texas. The democratic 
party, in the mean while, having made a scare-croio 
of a few abolitionists in the North, by introducing 
a resolution refusing the people their constitutional 
right of petition, kept alive agitation, as a part of 
their sacred creed ; and by the passage of the 
"twenty-first rule" they brought thousands and 
tens of thousands of these petitioners to Congress, 
insisting upon their right to be heard. The demo- 
cratic party then became alarmed at the unpopu- 
larity of their act, and repealed the twenty-first 
rule. What was the result ? The people became 
satisfied, when once their own rights were vindi- 
cated, and, instead of flooding Congress with these 



24 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

petitions the succeeding session, it was a rare 
occiirrence to hear that one was presented. 

When Texas became a state, the Missouri Com- 
promise line was applied to it by act of Congress, 
and that matter was thus settled. It passed the 
House by a vote of one hundred and twenty to 
ninety-eight, and every Southern democrat in that 
assembly voted for it. 

But not long after this the Mexican war 
occurred, and California, Utah, and New Mexico, 
were added to our territory. Oregon had just 
been organized as a territory, with the ordinance 
of 1787, which you will bear in mind, Americans, 
was a prohibition to the extension of slavery, and 
was signed by Mr. Polk, having as his cabinet 
adviser James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania ! 

The next thing to be done was to provide for the 
Territory of California. The ^Missouri Compromise 
was then offered in Congress to be applied to it, 
and every Southern senator voted for it. But, 
there was other territory acquired from Mexico, 
which was not included in this legislation, and 
about which great difficulty was created. Then it 
was that Mr. Clay, in the decline of life, left his 
own fireside, to forego all its pleasures in his last 



^HE UNION OF THE STATES. 25 

hours, to heal the impending strife by aiding in 
the passage of the Compromise measures of 1850. 
And let it not be overlooked that the democrats, 
who caused the twenty-first rule to be enacted in 
the House, a short time before, to create agitation 
and disunion at the North, were the stern oppo- 
nents of the Compromise of 1850, which saved the 
Union, and restored harmony to all sections. 

At the beginning of the session, subsequent to 
the Compromise of 1850, Col. Jackson, of Georgia, 
offered this resolution : — " Resolved, That we 
recognize the binding eflicacy of the compromises 
of the constitution, and believe it to be the inten- 
tion of the people generally, as we hereby declare 
it to be ours individually, to abide such compro- 
mises, and to sustain the laws necessary to carry 
them out, — the provision for the delivery of fugi- 
tive slaves and that act of the last Congress for 
the purpose included, — and we deprecate all 
further agitation of all questions growing out of 
that provision, of the questions embraced in the acts 
of the last Congress known as the Compromise, and 
of questions generally connected with the institu- 
tion of slavery, as unnecessary, useless, and dan- 
gerous ;" when sixty-four voted against it. The 
3 



26 THE UNION OF THE STATES.* 

democratic papers of that day said, " We notice 
the ultra Southern members from South Carolina 
voted with the free-soilers." That is, against the 
acquiescence of the two sections in peace, and a 
settlement of the slavery question. 

Mr. Hillyer, another member of the House, 
offered, in addition, this resolution : — " Resolved, 
That the series of acts passed during the first ses- 
sion of the Thirty-first Congress, known as the 
Compromise, are regarded as a final adjustment 
and a permanent settlemenC of the question therein 
embraced, and should be regarded, maintained, and 
executed, as such ; " which was also opposed by 
sixty-five votes ! And these from the South were 
every one democrats, who united with the aboli- 
tionists of the North against the very measures, 
Americans, which had just restored peace to your 
distracted country. 



CHAPTER II. 

In 1852 Pierce obtained tiie nomination for 
President by the democratic party, and was elected 
by fraudulently deceiving the people, and inducing 
them to believe he was true to the compromises of 
the Constitution and the Union. The democratic 
party then got into power by that deception. And 
what has it done, my countrymen ? Why, it has 
plunged us into civil war ; and we should also have 
been in foreign war, but for the respectable position 
the British cabinet took Avhen they saw that Frank- 
lin Pierce and the democratic leaders were not rep- 
resenting, but personating, the American people. 
They have introduced an insurrectionary and revo- 
lutionary spirit among the masses, that they may 
hold out the Union flag, after staining it with blood, 
and call on the people to rally around it for the 
safety of the Union. Great Heaven, defend us 
from this serpent rule another four years ! Defend 
this people, 0, our nation's God, our people's only 



28 THE UNION OP THE STATES. 

refuge, from James Buchanan's power to perpetu 
ate this shameful democratic rule, "SYliich is now 
shaking the edifice of the Union through an execu- 
tive instrument Tvho sacrilegiously occupies the 
chair of state ! 

Out of ten senators in Congress who voted for 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, 
thereby unsettling the compromises of 1820 and 
1850, seven of that number have gone over to the 
fortunes of the democratic party, with Atchison, 
Douglas, and Franklin Pierce, and just where the 
American people want them to remain. " Pierce 
suits us well; " "we know our man," was said 
with no more truth by Van Buren, in 1852, than 
it is now said of James Buchanan. It is the inter- 
est of the democratic leaders to keep up the agita- 
tion of slavery ; in this they live, move, and have 
their being ; and James Buchanan is pledged to 
keep all its elements in full blast, to perpetuate 
the power of the democratic dynasty. 

And who is it now, Americans, who can arrest 
the dangerous evils that democratic misrule has 
brought upon the land ? We answer, there is but 
one man now before the people who can restore us 
to the peace, prosperity, and progress, which were 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 29 

given the country by the Compromise of 1850 ; 
and that man is MiUard Fillmore. Mr. Stephen 
A. Douglas, United States senator from Illinois, is 
very good democratic authority ; and we give you an 
extract from his speech made in Richmond in 1852, 
and published in the Richmond Examiner, an influ- 
ential democratic paper of that state. Mr. Douglas 
was denouncing the Baltimore convention for not 
nominating Mr. Fillmore at that time, and said, 
" We say — ay, all of us — that Mr. Fillmore was a 
real God-send ; that he was sent by his Creator, 
that he was sent by God himself, to rule over the 
destinies of this country, when the ship of state 
was sinking in the tempest. (Loud and long-con- 
tinued cheers.) It was the calming of the waters 
when the ship was sinking in the tempest. All, 
therefore, look kindly on Mr. Fillmore ; and we 
like to give him all the consolation we can, after 
the bad treatment he received at Baltimore, because 
he was a whig, and yet did no harm to the coun- 
try." 

No, Americans, the most violent political oppo- 
nent cannot and dare not assume that ]\Iillard Fill- 
more did not advance the welfare of his country 
as a whole, and protect all its interests everywhero 
3* 



30 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

Anothsr fact, not to be omitted at this crisis, is, 
that the democratic party were the first to oppose 
the introduction of foreigners into the national 
councils, as well as Eoman Catholics, though they 
have since courted these influences, and denounced 
the American party for insisting that none but 
Americans shall rule America. In the celebrated 
Virginia democratic resolutions of '98 and '99 are 
these : 

" That the General Assembly, nevertheless con- 
curring in opinion with the Legislature of Massa- 
chusetts, that every constitutional barrier should 
be opposed to the introduction of foreign influence 
into our national councils, 

^'Resolved, That the constitution should be so 
amended that no foreigner who shall not have ac- 
quired rights under the constitution and laws at 
the time of making this amendment shall therefore 
be eligible to the office of senator or representative 
in the Congress of the United States, nor to any 
office in the executive or judiciary departments." 

Now, while the American party has not any 
prejudice towards respectable foreigners, and makes 
no war upon them as foreigners, but, as subjects 
of the Pope of Rome, repudiates their interference 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 31 

with our just political rights, the democratic party- 
has opposed them as such ; and we all know that in 
the State of New Hampshire, a state devoted to 
the democracy, a Roman Catholic cannot, to this 
day, hold any civil office, because he is a Catholic. 
And yet these democratic leaders, who have made 
all the agitation, and bought and sold the papal 
vote like a hogshead of tobacco or a bale of cotton, 
to carry^ their own election and retain the power, 
put out the signal of disunion, and would have the 
people cheated into the belief that they alone can 
save it from dissolution ! 

Americans, seventy years ago, the greatest work 
of mankind was completed, when our fathers em- 
bodied into an organic form the free covenant which 
'gave to this nation its life, liberty, and happiness. 
This formation of the government takes rank in 
importance above the Revolution, and above tlie 
Declaration of Independence. You ask why? 
"We answer, that while the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence cost the very extreme of sacrifice and the 
essence of patriotism, the labor to maintain our 
liberties would have been lo^t, after being won, had 
not the American Union been the result. And the 
great error now being committed by the people is 



32 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

in putting the Declaration in the place of the 
Constitiitloji, and looking to it as the instrument 
which governs them. 

But one fact must be kept alive, — that no one 
man could have been the author of the Declaration 
of Independence. Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, 
Livingston, Lee, Hancock, &c., all differed ; and it 
was these shades of opinion, delicately balanced, 
which made the Declaration, as it subsequently did 
the Constitution. And now, my countrymen, has 
one portion of these states been more benefited by 
the Union than the other? In other words, has 
the North or the South been gainers by the national 
compact ? Take the increase of territory, and look 
at the question in this sense. 

In 1803, Louisiana was bought for upwards of 
twenty-three millions of dollars, in order to control 
the commerce of the Mississippi valley, which has 
resulted in a benefit since that time to the free 
states and territories contiguous of not less, cer- 
tainly, than a thousand millions of dollars ! Iowa, 
Minesota, the Nebraska territory, with a certainty 
of Kansas and the rich prairies south of it, have 
all inured to the Northern States by that Louisiana 
purchase. The public lands, also, that have been 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 33 

and yet remain to be sold, and the grants to 
Northern railroads, will surely equal two millions 
more in money, which goes at once to the North ; 
and makes the result of the Louisiana increase 
beneficial to that section of the Union upwards 
of eleven hundred millions of dollars. 

Then, again, look at Texas. Its annexation cost 
the country, by the Mexican war, upwards of two 
hundred and seventeen millions ; by Texas claims, 
sixteen millions ; by the Gadsden Treaty, ten 
millions ; making the cost for the acquisition of 
Texas to the Union two hundred and thirty-three 
millions. By this the North acquired California, 
and a specie dividend which has amounted since 
1848 to three hundred and fifty millions of gold ! 
In addition to the gain in gold, this section of the 
Union has obtained by the Texas annexation a 
command over the trade of the Pacific. 

The increase of territory has therefore benefited 
the whole Union, and facilitated its enterprise, 
resources, and industry ; and California gave an 
impetus to the trade of the whol* country, which 
could not have been felt otherwise in two hundred 
years. 

My countrymen, the American Union has God 



34 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

for its author, and the welfare of the whole people 
for its basis — the welfare of men, the welfare of 
the states. Then, in all the majesty of American 
citizens, let the people stand to their rights, 
instead of trembling for their bread. The Amer- 
ican Revolution had one Arnold, but the name of 
traitor, in this present revolution, is " legion." 
They hate the doctrine of Washington, which is 
dear to the people, because it teaches that only 
*' Americans shall rule America ; " the same doc- 
trine which made Charlemagne dear to Frenchmen, 
Robert Bruce to Scotchmen, Alfred the Great to 
Englishmen ! To intensify the love for the Union 
of these States, and make " dissolving views" of 
disunionists, is now the aim of the American 
party. Other evils may exist singly, and impose 
but one burden, but the destruction of this Union 
would subvert the interests of every state. It 
would change wisdom for folly, religion for 
sin, propagandism for patriotism, light for dark- 
ness. It would stop trade, commerce, and the 
development c/§ our best agricultural resources. 
It would put an end to our unrivalled systems of 
education, and the utility of our inventions. It 
would arrest the increase of our newspaper issues, 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 35 

and the increase of population. In a word, it 
would take away the key to all our knowledge, 
and shut against us tlie very gates of heaven. 
Humanity demands that this Union he preserved ; 
equality of rights demands it ; the religion of 
Jesus Christ demands it ; and, glory to God, the 
Ruler of the world controls it ! 

No pen can expose the henefits, or portray the 
affliction, which would jeopardize trade, interest, 
lahor, life ! And now, when the Union itself is a 
candidate for popular suffrage, can any other than 
an American feeling sweep the land ? The con- 
stitution comes from the people ; the majesty of 
sovereignty is in them. "Who are the people ? 
They are the sons of the soil, and their industry 
made us free ! Our fjirmers, manufacturers, me- 
chanics, laborers, artisans, are the tiue constit- 
uency, and they insist that the right of the 
American working-man and mechanic can only be 
secured from foreign competition by maintaining the 
Union in all its integrity. In the abuse of the 
ballot-box the American laborer has been cast aside 
for the outcasts of Europe, until foreign interests, 
foreiffn laws, foreign regiments, and foreign Ian- 



36 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

guages, have made the nation totter, by robbing 
the Union of its pristine strength. 

My countrymen, do you not remember that 
Home's name, once a dread to despots, was made a 
reproach by the very act we are now committing ? 
She gave to conquered races the right to citizen- 
ship, and this destroyed her. And the Italian 
republics of the middle ages were invaded and 
enslaved by the Guelphs, Ghibelines, Germans, 
Swiss, Austrians, and French, who broke up the 
union of those little confederacies, simply because 
they neglected to guard the nationality of their 
own people. Athens and Lacedemon, for the same 
reason, fomented disunion, and prepared the way 
for Philip of Macedou, a northern conqueror, who 
accomplished their destruction. 

Even the Pope of Rome teaches this national 
principle to his own subjects ; and who but an 
Italian could succeed his holiness ? And, we say, 
let France be governed by Frenchmen, Ireland by 
Irishmen, Germany by Germans, and America by 
Americans, if this Union of ours is to remain. 
Like the telegraph, the Union keeps no local office, 
has no visible link between the states, but is the 
electric medium which circulates through all their 



THE IIN^ON OF THE STATES. 37 

cxclimges, meets all extremes and centralizes 
then , and is the ever-present source of the closest 
polilieal intimacy. 

Americans, can anything dissolve tliis bright 
and sparkling cluster of stars, -which make one 
shining jewel, upon which the Union's image is 
alone reflected ? Politicians may attempt it ; crazy 
fanatics may rail at it ; European emissaries 
may toil for it, and send money to the native 
traitors to facilitate it ; but we believe that beneath 
the present agitation and strife, Providence con- 
ceals a future blessing to this Union, and that is 
its peace and permanent endurance. 

"When the Mexican war was declared, there was 
a majority of the people of this country who 
believed it aggressive and unjust. The election 
of 1844 had turned, in a great measure, upon 
the question of annexing Texas ; James K. Polk, 
the democratic nominee, favoring it, while Henry 
Clay, the whig candidate, opposed it. That elec- 
tion, discarding the foreign vote, was most unques- 
tionably a triumph to Mr. Clay, and a significant 
sign of opposition to Texas annexation. But, 
what effect had that freedom of opinion upon the 
war ? Why, Americans, you all know, it was no 

4 



38 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

sooner declared than citizens of all parts of the 
Union rushed to be enrolled and press into battle. 
In six weeks two hundred thousand were ready to 
take up arms. In three months two hundred 
thousand more were enlisted ; and, had it been 
necessary to vindicate our nationality and preserve 
the Union, a million of men would readily have 
gone to the fight. And can any sane mind believe 
that now, when the internal foes of the Union and 
the constitution have declared war against them, to 
be fought in a single day at the ballot-box, that the 
love for them will be less intensely exhibited ? Who 
can doubt that the mere suspicion of treason to 
this government will merge all sectional questions, 
and occupy with one thought this whole people, 
who will march to the music of the Union, and 
sweep out the offenders and the offence ? 

In the Lite European war in the Crimea, it was 
difficult for the allies to keep forty thousand men 
at any one time upon duty. Why ? Because these 
troops did not move by patriotic emotions, or a 
cultivated national feeling. Many of them had 
never held a rifle before, and would miss aim in a 
hundred successive shots. Americans, on the con- 
trary, are mostly target-shooters, and rarely waste 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 39 

ball and powder. As they are in war, so they are 
in peace ; ready to sacrifice all for the glorious 
privileges secured to them by the free institutions 
under which they live. By all, then, my country- 
men, that is dear to the patriotism of your country, 
by all that is dear to the glory and transcendent 
magnitude of its peace and rising prosperity, by 
all that is dear to your domestic firesides, to your 
loved homes, and to all that can give value to the 
landing of the Pilgrims, to the illustrious memory 
of their deeds, the achievement of the revolutionary 
battle-fields, the bright galaxy of your heroes and 
the pride of country, avoid, by some conciliation, 
the dangers ■ that now surround us, and let not the 
world point with scorn, and despots laugh in tri- 
umph over our crushed and ruined liberties. 

My countrymen, the love borne to the Union by 
the majorities of the people, with their vital 
Interests indissolubly bound up in it, repels the 
idea that they ever will dissolve it while the simple 
remedy of the ballot-box remains in their hands. 
They cannot but see the inevitable fate of all the 
smaller states of the Union, North, Middle, and 
South. Never again would they have an equality 
with the larger states. Never again would they 



40 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

stand as they now do in the Senate. Rhode Island, 
Delaware, Connecticut, Florida, and the like, would 
suffer' absorption and annihilation. Texas would 
be destroyed by the Indians on the banks of the 
Rio Grande. Every Southern state would need 
all the militia within its own borders to defend 
itself, and could not fly to the succor of its sister 
states. If the small states sought foreign aid 
against the aggression of the larger, that foreign 
power would afterwards claim them as its vassals. 

There are now five of these small states, which 
are just as strongly represented in the United 
States Senate as the five largest ones in the Union. 
New York has no more voice there than Rhode 
Island, Virginia than Florida. Hence, nearly one 
sixth of the power of the general government, and 
the treaty-making authority, is now in the smaller 
states. But, if ever separation comes, remember 
no revolution will ever make the Union again what 
it is now. Our civil and religious blessings, our 
growth, our resources, the development of our 
wealth, are gone, and the small states lost forever. 

The neglect of the Bible is, in our judgment, 
the prominent reason for our past evils and present 
peril. Can anything be more ominous of destruc- 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 41 

tion to ;i people, than neglect of moral cnlture, 
and contempt of the principles of virtue and Chris- 
tianity ? What other bulwarks can avail to save 
our Union ? The principles of the Bible, where 
its spirit imbues the heart, and is acted out in the 
life, will save us from disunion. Without it, the 
charm of liberty and the Union is lost. Men are 
ripe for treason, stratagem, and war. We may 
make music for a thousand ages, but it will not 
be that of the song and the shouts of victory of 
Deborah, when the chariots and the horsemen of 
Pharaoh were overthrown. 

Fillmore's election will give support to private 
integrity, as well as national credit and honor, and 
save the reduction of property, products, and com- 
merce. He will be to the whole people as a strong 
metallic currency was to England in her bloody war 
with France — the strong confidence by which she 
humbled the states of Europe, swept the seas wiLh 
her navy, and sent Napoleon to St. Helena. 

Now, what would be the result of rejecting ]Mil- 

lard Fillmore, whom a kind Providence has allowed 

you the privilege to elect, if you would save your 

countr/ ? It is no fancy sketch to tell you these 

4* 



42 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

plain truths. There woukl be a distress, deep and 
universal, in this country, never felt before. The 
banks v^ould be drained of their gold, because their 
credit would ](iiiil ; trade would be crippled, and mer- 
chants would cease to be able to procure credit at 
long dates, and therefore obliged to suspend. 
Manufacturers would not be able to sell their goods, 
or raise money on them. American industry would 
then be checked at once. The national debt would 
be doubled. The taxes upon the people would be 
increased ten-fold. The credit of the nation would 
be so reduced that the navy and army would be com- 
pelled to disband. There w^ould be such distrust 
among all the industrial walks of the people, that 
no one could command a barrel of flour, or a bag of 
coffee, unless the money accompanied the order. 
The whole country would be in gloom, and the 
honest yeomen of the land would smite their breasts 
and cry aloud, "We are deceived, we are des- 
troyed ! " Everything within and without threat- 
ens destruction, if Fillmore is now cast aside. The 
nation's faith and the nation's honor should demand 
this pledge to be made, and the world reassured 
that the experiment of self-government has not 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 43 

failed — that America's fortress is still armed and 
manned by freemen. 

'Now, let us look rationally at the matter, and 
ask to what amounts the folly of pretending to 
adA'ocate, at this crisis, the restoration of the Mis- 
souri Comi)romise. It plainly means nothing at 
all, hut to keep up a practised art of deceiving 
honest minds. The day for this has passed ; and 
it is as pertinent to say the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise might have been avoided by defeating 
Franklin Pierce's election to the presidency in 
1852, or that some dead man might have lived, 
if proper remedies had been seasonably used, 
as to say now that the Missouri Compromise can 
ever be restored, as it stood when Pierce and the 
democratic leaders laid upon it their sacrilegious 
hands. Some may ask, is this impossible ? We 
answer, it is ; for, while the South could voluntarily 
restore it, it is not to be supposed it would, and 
thereby pass condemnation on its own acts. 

My countrymen, it is high time to awake from 
this delusion, and cast aside this phantom which 
is being embodied into pretended substance, and 
made an issue in the pending presidential election, 
when, in tinith, the restoration of the compromise 



44 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

has no more to do with the election of President 
than it has with the coronation of Alexander of 
Russia, or the baptism of the heir of Louis Napo- 
leon of France. And why ? We answer, Because 
the question of restoring the compromise will never 
be made one for any future President to consider in 
his official station. 

There is no earthly prospect that Congress, wliich 
alone could reinstate what it created and has de- 
stroyed, would pass an act of this nature before 
Kansas was admitted into the Union as a state. 
We all know that, with the sectional agitation now 
existing, such a step would rend the Union at once 
into fragments. It is morally impossible, therefore, 
and folly even to entertain such an idea. And you 
also understand the meaning of your o^vn constitu- 
tion, and know equally well that Congress caimot, 
if it wished, lay the weight of a feather upon the 
institutions of a state of this Union. So, whether 
Kansas was a free or a slave state, — and God for- 
bid it should be the latter ! — the Missouri Compro- 
mise would not and could not be restored. Then, 
if it is true — and every man and woman in the 
land knows it — that Kansas will soon be a free 
state, asking admission into the sisterhood of the 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 45 

Union, it will require more art, we believe, than all 
the political demagogues of the country contain, to 
persuade the American people that the election of 
the President has anything to do with restoring the 
Missouri Compromise. And it needs high pressure 
now to be put upon the public virtue of the country, 
to awaken it to the true sight of its designing foes ; 
that the people may at once see that the Union's 
strength is alone in its devotion to constitutional 
liberty, and on this alone it must stand or fall. 
The Convention which made the Constitution in 
1787, sent out a letter to all the people, giving 
them to understand the spirit of compromise upon 
which it was adjusted, and which the States, to 
maintain it, must preserve. George Washington 
signed that letter, and we give its language, as 
pertinent to our present emergency. 

"Individuals," said the Convention, "entering 
into society, must give up a share of liberty to pre- 
serve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice 
must depend as well on situation and circumstances 
as on the object to be attained. In all our delib- 
erations on this subject, the object which the Con- 
vention has kept steadily in view, was the consoli- 
dation of the Union, in which is involved our 



46 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national 
existence. This important consideration, seriously 
and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State 
in the Convention to be less rigid on points of 
inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise 
expected." 



CHAPTER III 

On the 4th of March, 1857, the present Congress 
closes its power. The next Congress will begin its 
session the following December. Before that time, 
Kansas will either be in the Union, or at the door 
of Congress for admission. Now, with a large 
democratic majority from the South in the House, 
and a democratic majority also in the Senate, is it 
not an insult to the intelligence of the people to 
talk of doing anything with the compromise the 
next session, while the Senate will still hold its 
democratic majority in the succeeding Congress, 
thereby putting the compromise restoration at an 
end forever ! Its repeal, in the language of Mil- 
lard Fillmore, "was the Pandora's box, out of 
which have issued aU our present evils." The 
whole country had for thirty years acquiesced in 
the compromises of the constitution as sacred ; and 
the intelligence, justice, and honor, of the people of 
the South, were opposed to its repeal just as much 



48 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

as were the people of the North. It was the act 
of the democratic party — we mean its treacherous 
leaders, in league with Pierce, whom they used as 
the instrument to accomplish their long-predeter- 
mined scheme to foster agitation, and perpetuate 
their own power. Franklin Pierce was the man 
for their ends ; hence the occasion to aj)propri- 
ate him was eagerly embraced. 0, my country- 
men, be conjured to rise in the majesty of your 
own intelligence ! Search into these matters, and 
see for yourselves that the Missouri Compromise is 
dead, and cannot be restored ; that with it the 
President you elect will never have anytliing offi- 
cially to do ; that it is not truthfully any more an 
issue before the people than the ' ' embargo ' ' which 
was passed under Mr. Jefferson's administration, or 
the alien and sedition laws under that of John 
Adams. 

Never before was so false an issue made as is 
now thrust before the people upon the Kansas ques- 
tion ; as though the majorities of the South did not 
as fully as the North condemn the leaders of the 
democratic party and its President for allowing 
American blood to be shed on American soil by 
American men. These leaders have incited those 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 49 

bloody deeds in that temtoiy, rather than inter- 
posed the goveniment and laws to arrest the civil 
war, and bring the offenders to punishment. Why, 
then, should fifteen states of this Union be sen- 
tenced to the vindictive curses of sixteen others ? 
In commerce and trade, in the struggle for a na- 
tional existence, in all the revolutionary battles, 
and the subsequent association since our independ- 
ence, the interests of all these states have been 
identified. The fifteen states of the South do not 
support now a candidate for their own section, but 
for the Avholc thirty-one states. And, in proof of 
this, a majority of these states Avill cast their vote 
for Millard Fillmore, a native citizen, and resident 
of the great State of New York. My countrymen, 
it is treason to the Union to support any candidate 
on account of this sectional feeling. It is madness 
on the part of the people, and will be the dying out 
of all our national fame. 

It will be death to the great commercial metropo- 
lis of the country, which has been built up by the 
common trade of the North and South. This com- 
merce, which has, in this present year, 1856, swelled 
to the enormous aggregated amount of four billions 
five hundred millions, was the origin of our present 

5 



50 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

constitutional goYernment. The cities of New 
York, Boston, and others, refused to treat with 
men longer under the unstable articles of the old 
confederacy of states ; and tliis desire to give secur- 
ity to the trade of the North and South led to the 
convention of 1787, which gave us the most glori- 
ous system of free government which has ever 
blessed mankind. 

But then, Americans, that commerce was confined 
to a few privateers. The effects of the Revolution- 
ary War were all around us. Now we have the 
greatest commercial tonnage of any nation on earth, 
and soon will have more, if we continue as we are, 
than all the rest together. See, only last year, 
1855, while Great Britain had five millions, the 
United States had five millions two hundred thou- 
sand, and the rest of the world together had the 
exact amount of Great Britain ; and wliile, in the 
last thirty years, the commercial marine has in- 
creased in Great Britain twenty-eight per cent., it 
has increased in the United States fifty-eight per 
cent, in the same period. 

Americans, it is your country, and New York its 
great emporium, wliidi has outsailed and outnum- 
bered the commercial marine of the whole globe ; 



THE UNION OF THE tSTATES. 51 

and now owes the greatness of her trade to the Union 
of all the states. And who, that knows the intelli- 
gence of her people, believes for a moment that a 
city maintaining upwards of eighty-five thousand 
qualified voters could ever give its vote to a sec- 
tional issue between these states? Who believes 
the merchant, the banker, the ship-owner, the prop- 
erty-holder, the men of the workshop, the master 
mechanic, and builder, of New York, Boston, and 
other cities, mil surrender the opportunity, when 
presented in the presidential election, to vindicate 
the Union of these states? Will the young men, 
who have all to hope in the rising greatness of their 
countiy, hesitate? — will they who look to New York 
as the national trading and commercial metropolis, 
and whose ambition would make them run to the 
music of the Union ? 

It is the Union as it is, the preservation of the 
rights of the North and the South, that now calls on 
the merchants and property-holders of the Empire 
City of the Union to look to its future name. In 
New York city, we find, by the comptroller's report 
in 1856, there is five hundred and thirteen millions 
of individual wealth ; the city corporations also 
holding forty-two millions of real property, and a 



52 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

banking and insurance capital of seventy millions. 
New York city, then, has a capital involved in the 
welfare of this Union of six hundred and thirty 
millions of dollars, with a population of six hundred 
and thirty thousand. 

Americans, what unequalled prosperity is here 
presented ! — a city averaging a thousand dollai-s 
per capita! And how comes all this? Why, 
plainly from the concentration of all the trade and 
commerce of the tliirty-one states of this federal 
Union. Now, let the business men of the country, 
the property-owners, young men of all trades, the 
mechanics, say what would result to New York city 
alone by the separation of fifteen states of the Union 
from the other sixteen. Let them tell what would 
result to the cotton trade, raised exclusively at the 
South, but exchanged exclusively at the North. In 
the year 1855, this crop placed to Northern credit 
alone one hundred and twenty-five millions of dol- 
lars ; beside more than half a million of cotton-bales 
w^ere manufactured last year at the North, making 
another hundred millions to the cotton exchanges 
that season. And what, too, but Northern ships 
and Northern men were employed in transporting 
these three thousand five hundred cotton-bales to be 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 63 

manufactured at the North ? Americans, who can 
believe that the practical men of the nation, the 
manufacturei-s of New England, are not above decep- 
tion upon the vital question of their own interests, 
as w^ell as the mechanics and property-holders of 
New York? Certainly not less than two hundred 
millions of dollars passed into the hands of carriers, 
factors, and bankers, in the year 1855 ; and is 
it not best to trust the hberties and institutions 
of your countiy again to a man who has fiUed the 
presidential chair wdth so much benefit to every 
interest, that every party endorsed him ? Is it not 
best to take the man who endorsed the Missouri 
Compromise of 1820, when he signed the compro- 
mises of 1850, which made Kansas a free state ? 
We say, is it not wise to secure the man whose 
devotion to the Union of the states has been demon- 
strated by his acts, while Providence offers us the 
privilege to place our country once more at peace ? 

The election of Millard Fillmore would put an 
end to Kansas fighting in a single day. If needful, 
he would march the entire army of the United 
States to that scene of blood, with the gallant Scott 
at its head. He would allow the actual settlers of 
that tenitory to settle its government for them- 
5* 



54 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

selves ; and, "by exerting the influence of the gov- 
ernment for the safety of that people, all strife 
would cease, and a full sweep be given to the 
energy and enterprise of settlers in all their free 
pursuits. 

Americans, with Fillmore at the helm of state, 
no more legislation, no more interference from any 
source, is needed to terminate civil war, and give 
freedom and peace to Kansas, and lift the pall of 
human wrong from this rising country ; so that 
Anglo-Saxon blood may go on to populate, ciA'ilize, 
emich, and aggrandize the heritage which God has 
opened for the welfare of our own people, and the 
good of the human race. 

It is time to end a censorship which the sixteen 
Northern states and the fifteen Southern states are 
each attempting, through fanatical spirits, to exert 
over the other. It is more baneful to our liberties 
than that now existing in France, Austria, Russia, 
or Italy. It is more odious to freemen than the 
Council of Ten in ancient Venice. We must not 
forget that conciliation has ever been the bond of 
this Union, and that it has saved more than once 
our streets from growing with grass, our rivers from 
being red with blood, and thousands now in man- 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 55 

hood from untimely graves. Let us not forget how 
the Missouri difficulty in 1820 was settled; how 
the tarilY question, under General Jackson's admin- 
istration, was adjusted ; how the compromise of 
ISoO made the North and the South sing aloud 
with joy ! It was a national arrangement, to which 
all sections at once consented, and on which all 
parties harmonized, when a Northern man, with 
Northern sentiments, who had steadily stood to 
Northern principles, became a national man, and 
proved true to the constitution and the Union of all 
the thirty-one states, and signed that law ! 

Now, when the interests of the country are all 
affected, and real estate depreciating in value every 
day, is it not time to box up every other interest, 
as our fathers did in the American Revolution? 
Leave the workshop, the counting-house, the agri- 
cultural implements lying in the lields of your 
country, and prepare for the contest for the prin- 
ciples of your government which is to be fought in 
November without cannon or bavonet. ^Iv coun- 
trjTnen, a thousand millions of money could not 
pay for the ill eifects which may result from the 
defeat of Millard Fillmore at this crisis of our his- 
tory ; while his election will be the certain insur- 



56 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

ance upon your commerce, finance, trade, your 
shipping, inventions, discoveries, educational bless- 
ings, your Protestant liberty, and your unbroken 
union and national renowm. 

In the light of all these reflections and causes of 
danger to our safety, and the fear of splitting on the 
rock of disunion, let us, my countrymen, take warn- 
ing from the history of all the republics of the past. 
Where are the communities which have been exalted 
by prosperity, arts, commerce, and military might ? 
Where are the treasures of Mneveh, the walls of 
Babylon, the sceptres of the Caesars ? A thousand 
warnings come across the ocean from the monarchies 
and republics of the Old World: — Athens, Thebes, 
Rome, and Byzantium ; the flourishing states of 
Holland, of Geneva, of Venice, — of Avhich noth- 
ing is left but the living monument of liistory. 
This republic has risen, as it were, from the despot- 
ism and ashes of the Old World ; and wonderful is 
our story, mighty our prowess, our progress, our 
elevation, and we have been saved thus far. For 
this let us send forth pecans of united praise, and 
give glory to the Author of our being, and of our 
national preserA'ation ! 

And now, we ask, who will not join in prolong- 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 67 

ing this Union ? Who will prove recreant here ? 
Speak, ye patriots, ye sons of the soil. East and 
West, North and South ! Who is able to probe the 
depth of this subject? It swells the heart with 
emotions too big for utterance. The Union of the 
States ! What a theme ! — a theme which sur- 
passes in importance and magnificence the highest 
powers of our imagination to conceive, or our pen 
to portray. How feebly have we spoken ! Come, 
assemble, ye American men ! Let your glowing 
eloquence fill with rapture the hstening throng, as 
you arouse with patriotism, and startle with magic 
logic, the sons of your soil to the greatness and 
sublimity of their patrimony ! Come, ye proudest 
of historians, — Bancroft, Hume, and Hilliard, — 
and reveal the majesty of Plymouth Ruck, of 
Bunker Hill, of Yorktown ; the rising enterprise, 
genius, glory, and boundless prospects of this New 
World, in the indissoluble charm of this Union ! 
Come, ye muses, — Apollo, CalHope, Calypso, — 
and celebrate, in strains as sweet as the harp of 
David, or an angel's lyre, the ineffable grandeur 
and loveliness of this western empire, in one un- 
broken unity of Ijrilliant stars ! 

Come, assemble, ye patriots, natives of this soil, 



58 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

ye "\y1io best know how to feel the inspiration 
which calls you to defend it, if invaded, with mil- 
lions of bayonets, or to repose, when in peace and 
prosperity, under the shadow of its outspread and 
majestic wings ! Come, weigh, ponder, stand on 
Capitol Hill and survey the whole horizon in the 
immense field of your vision, and see if you can 
estimate its value, or reach in debate the height 
and dignity of this immortal theme ! 

Then, in this view, to change the tenor of our 
remarks, what shall we say of the traitor who 
dares to stand forth, and, with polluted and mur- 
derous hands, with the associates of Catiline at 
his back, to strike a fatal blow at this Union, and 
to pull down its pillars ? Erostratus fired the temple 
of Ephesus, and then disappeared by the light of 
the blaze. So will those. South and North, who 
are piling up fagots to set this Union in a glitter- 
ing flame, cease their madness, and be swept to the 
insignificance from whence they were taken, while 
the Union, on the proud pillars of the constitution, 
will be found standing as on a rock of adamant ! 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 69 

EXPLANATION OF MR. FILLMORE'S 
ALBANY SPEECH. 



MAYOR perry's ADDRESS. 



" Mr. Fillmore : Words cannot express the 
emotions of our hearts to-day, as we receive you 
back, the distinguished and honored son of this 
great state ; one who has worthily possessed the 
highest testimonial which a free people can offer 
to patriotism and exalted worth, and who is now, 
by the voluntary action of that people, again selected 
as their first choice to preside over the destinies 
of this great republic. The waters of the vast 
Atlantic could not wash you from our remembrance ; 
and while separated from us by time and by dis- 
tance, you have lived, sir, as you must ever live, 
in our warmest remembrance. During your ab- 
sence, it has been at once the pride and the pleasure 
of the American people to present your name again 
as their choice for the high and glorious position 
of President of these United States, knowing that 
you sought not ofBce for office's sake. Knowing that 
no mean ambition could tempt you from the path 
of duty, yet fearing that your disposition might 
incline you to retreat from the cares of public into 



60 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

the pleasures of private life, we have stood in 
anxious suspense, until we have received the wel- 
come announcement of your acceptance of that 
honor which it is our wish and design to confer 
upon you. And if anything could add to the pride 
and pleasure with which we now welcome you, it 
is a knowledge of the fact, ' that if there be those, 
either North or South, ivho desire an administration 
for the North as against the South, or for the 
South as a(jai?ist the North, they are not the men 
who should give their suffrages to you.' And, sir, 
we glory in the patriotic announcement, that you, 
as the chief magistrate of our united and beloved 
land, will '■ knoio only your country, your ichole 
country, and nothing but your country.' It is such 
a statement as this which will restore peace to our 
agitated land ; will allay the angry passions ex- 
cited by bad and designing men ; will roll back 
the dark and portentous cloud which threatens to 
arise, and will stay the further progress of fraternal 
discord and angry strife. Sir, we welcome you, 
as a man, with warm hearts, because we love you ; 
but, chiefly, and more than all, we welcome you, 
because of the proof we derive, both from your 
past and present course, that the same pure spirit 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 61 

of patriotism you have ever manifested will con- 
tinue to influence you in the future ; and that thus 
* our beloved country, our whole country, and 
nothing but our country,' may be preserved from 
the dangers which threaten it, and may be trans- 
mitted with rencAved glory, and unimpaired by 
any act of ours, to remotest posterity. 

" Mr. Fillmore : In the name of the citizens of 
Albany, and on their behalf, I am proud to bid 
you a most l^earty welcome." 

Mr. Fillmore, in response, said : 

*' We see a political party presenting candidates 
for the presidency and vice presidency, selected for 
the first time from the free states alone, with the 
avowed purpose of electing these candidates by 
suffrages of one part of the Union only, to rule 
over the whole United States. Can it be possible 
that those who are engaged in such a measure can 
have seriously reflected upon the consequences 
which must inevitably follow in case of success ? 
(Cheers.) Can they have the madness or the folly 
to believe that our Southern brethren would submit 
to be governed by such a chief magistrate? 
(Cheers.) Would he be required to follow the 
6 



62 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

same rule prescribed by tliose Tvho elected him in 
making his appointments ? If a man living south 
of Mason and Dixon's line be not worthy to be 
president or vice president, would it be proper to 
select one from the same quarter as one of his 
cabinet counsel, or to represent the nation in a 
foreign country ? or, indeed, to collect the revenue 
or administer the laws of the United States ? If 
not, what new rule is the president to adopt in 
selecting men for ofiice, that the peopje themselves 
discard in selecting him ? These are serious but 
practical questions ; and in order to appreciate 
them fully, it is only necessary to turn the tables 
upon ourselves. Suppose that the South, having 
a majority of the electoral votes, should declare 
that they would only have slaveholders for presi- 
'dent and vice president, and should elect such by 
their exclusive suffrages to rule over us at the 
North. Do you think we would submit to it ? 
No, not for a moment ! (Applause.) And do you 
believe that your Southern brethren are less sensi- 
tive on this subject than you are, or less zealous 
of their rights ? (Tremendous cheering.) If you 
do, let me tell you that you are mistaken. And, 
therefore, you must see that if this sectional party 



THE UNION OF THE STATES. 63 

succeeds, it leads inevitably to the destruction of 
tliis beautiful fabric reared by our forefathers, 
cemented by their blood, and bequeathed to us as a 
priceless inheritance." 

Here we discover the tme spirit of su])mission to 
the popular will, and devotion to the entire Union, 
as it exists under our national constitution. He 
does not say that the election of the nominee of 
the republican party would not and ought not to 
be submitted to by the South. But that, if the 
principle was earned out, of excluding every South- 
ern man from participation in government by that 
party, and the cabinet offices, foreign appoint- 
ments, judges of the courts, and administrative 
offices of the government, ivere placed ivholly in the 
hands of the North, that the South ought no more 
to submit, than would he and his Northern friends 
submit, if the South, as the South, should attempt 
to control and act for the whole country. 

Americans, this speech was not made to the 
South, but was delivered at Albany, the head-quar- 
ters of sectionalism, and addressed to Northern men, 
warning them of probable danger, and depicting its 
consequences. Mr. Fillmore, true to the spirit of 



64 THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

Washington's "Farewell Address," "indignantly 
frowned upon the first dawnimj of the attempt to 
alienate one portion of our country from the rest ; " 
while he declares to all the world that he himself 
will stand to the Union ^ no matter ivhich of the 
presidential candidates shall he elected hy the free 
suffrages of the American people. In fine, this 
appeal to the wisdom and patriotism of the people 
to cling to the Union of the thirty-one States, and 
not to suffer a single star to be wrested from the 
national constellation, was a timely warning to 
the country. And Mr. Fillmore plainly told his 
countrymen that it was only under one Union, one 
Constitution, and one destiny, that we could dwell 
together as brethren, and hope for or expect the 
blessing of Heaven. 





.^^<^£>^^^ 




THE PACIFIC EAILEOAD. 



CHAPTER I. 

The invention of printing, in 1436, prepared the 
way for the discovery of America in the same age, 
and made it a necessity. AVhy ? Because it civ- 
ilized and enlightened men ; and when this was 
done they wanted more room ; their commerce 
wanted more field ; their kingdoms wanted more 
latitude ; their navigation more scope ; in fine, 
every faculty of man expanded, and with a double 
energy the great work of revolution had begun. 

To obtain control over the commerce of the East 
has been the prize for which the ambition of na- 
tions had contended for ages ; and to find an easier 
and more direct route to India was the cause which 
moved Columbus to set out on the discovery of a 
western continent. The commerce of the East 



66 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

controlled the Avorld. Its riches, transported over 
deserts by the Arab, furnished London, Lisbon, 
Amsterdam, &c., with their opulence and grandeur. 
When the Turks held power on the Bosphorus, this 
wealth went to Europe and Asia through the Black 
Sea. When the Venetians wrested that power 
from the Turks, the Mediterranean became the 
channel of this Eastern commerce. The attractions 
of the gold mines of Peru and Mexico, the wars of 
the Dutch, French, and Danes, did not divert 
public desire for a direct route from Europe to 
Asia, until England conquered and established her 
empire in India over one hundred and fifty millions 
of people. The French explorers sought this line 
in vain ; and Lewis and Clark, under President 
Jefferson, of our own country, met wdth no better 
success. At last, however, the difficulty is solved ! 
A railroad through this continent is the power 
which is to control the commerce of the world ; 
and the United States alone affords such a route. 
The Pacific Ocean is then to be the centre of com- 
merce for the world, and our country thus becomes 
the centre of civilization. 

The moment this road is built, Asia, with its 
five hundred millions; Europe, with its two hun- 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 67 

dred and fifty millions; Africa, and all the islands 
of the ocean on either side, will seek this transit 
for their commerce. To go to India now, from the 
United States, is an undertaking which involves 
the risk of health and life, a voyage of five 
months, and of twice crossing the equator. With 
the railroad, twenty days would be the maximum 
time for penetrating the heart of India from the 
city of New York. There, we then shall ex- 
change our products and spend our surplus in the 
riches of the East. 

The trade of the East with Europe now is an- 
nually near four hundred millions, requiring three 
thousand vessels. With our railroad, the cost and 
time would be so reduced that it is fair to believe 
this commerce would be increased to seven or 
eight hundred millions. American vessels and 
American seamen will then go into the ports of 
Japan, now opened to us, and return freighted with 
the products of China and India. 

With Asia on one side and Europe on the other, 
and our steam and sailing vessels at command, 
there can never be any competition while the na- 
tion endures. 

The energy of the Anglo-Saxon has akeady 



68 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

demonstrated a power which challenges the admi- 
ration of mankind. It has been by the Anglo- 
American that the oceanic currents have been 
defined, and the Gulf-Stream pointed out to navi- 
gators all over the world. It was by the Anglo- 
American that the Dead Sea was explored. The 
Anglo-American opened by treaty the ports of 
Japan, after being so long closed to all but the 
Dutch and Chinese. Americans have proved the 
existence of an open Polar Sea, and braved the 
perils of the Arctic Ocean for Sir John Franklin. 
What have they done within their own borders ? 
They have taken the Mississippi valley, a wilder- 
ness thirty-five years ago, and settled it with up- 
wards of twelve millions of souls. Twenty years 
ago, where not seven thousand people dwelt, north 
and north-west of Chicago, they have put upwards 
of a million. The queen city of the AVest, Cin- 
cinnati, which contains one hundred and sixty thou- 
sand people, only dug its cellars a few years ago. 
In 1820, the first line of packet-ships sailed 
from the United States to Liverpool, and prudent 
men predicted them a failure. In 1835, the 
learned Dr. Lardner declared the navigation of the 
ocean by steam to to be impracticable. Three 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 69 

years after which, the Great Western and Sirius 
steamers came into the port of New York. 

The first proposal for a railroad from Boston to 
Hudson was made thirty years ago, and pronounced 
an absurdity. Now we have, at least, twenty thou- 
sand miles of railway constructed in the United 
States, involving a capital of more than five hun- 
dred millions of dollars. In 1808, the general 
government refused assistance to the Hudson and 
Erie Canal, after New York had appropriated six 
hundred dollars for a survey. Mr. Jefferson, then 
president, said, it "might be feasible one hundred 
years to come " ! 

The first American who is known to have con- 
ceived the idea of railroads by steam was Oliver 
Evans, of Pennsylvania, who made known his plan 
in 1781 and 1789, after the adoption of the con- 
stitution. 

Joel Barlow, in his " Visions of Columbus," in 
1787, predicted the Erie Canal in New York, 
thirty years before it was begun, under De Witt 
Clinton, in 1817. At that time, political parties 
took ground against it ; but the energies of Gov. 
Clinton prosecuted it to success. In ten years it 

had paid the cost of completion, while its present 

7 



70 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

annual receipts are half its original cost. Towns 
and villages immediately rose up by the Wabash 
and Erie Canal in like manner, and as railroads got 
on the line the banks of every navigable stream 
were covered by a population devoted to commer- 
cial enterprise. 

The inhabitants of Portland, Maine, have em- 
barked in the enterprise of building a railroad from 
there to Nova Scotia, wliich is now completed, and 
reduces the voyage of Europe to America two 
thousand miles. It is three thousand from New 
York to Liverpool. This effort found favor with 
European as w^ell as American capitalists, and will 
tend rapidly to commercial prosperity 

When we consider that England, to save a dis- 
tance of only twelve miles between London and 
Dublin, built a bridge across the Straits of Menai 
at a cost of twelve millions of money, we can 
better undei'stand the economy of expending money 
to shorten our route eleven thousand miles to 
Europe. 

Everything, therefore, demands, on the same 
principle, that the Pacific Railroad should be made 
to shorten and cheapen the transit route for the 
commerce of Europe and Asia, which we shall 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 71 

certainly command. Consider, Americans, how in 
a few }'ears we have spread from a fragment to a 
continent ! We have only one sixth less of terri- 
tory than the fifty-nine states of Europe put 
together. We are ten times larger than Great 
Britain and France. We are one and a half times 
larger than Russia in Europe. And, when the 
Atlantic and Pacific states shall be united by the 
railroad, it is impossible to realize how vast and 
how grand the results will be to us. 

In a philanthropic view, it is incomparaJDle with 
any war, or revolution, or discovery, save that of 
our beloved country, and the national freedom se- 
cured by our Republican institutions. The railroad 
will at once become the strongest fortification for 
the country, and moving batteries of men would be 
its defence in time of war. The passive intellects 
of the East will soon feel the attrition of Ameri- 
can energy and enterprise ; the population that 
flows in from the Old World will thus be Ameri- 
canized ; and Protestant education, wliich is as the 
brain to the body of our institutions, will Iniild up 
the American systems of free schools, which are the 
essential element of our liberties. 

Liberty has expanded our resources on the 



72 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

Atlantic, and will, in the same vray, advance them 
on the Pacific, until the islands of the ocean, and 
the shores of Asia, shall feel the benign influence 
of American commerce and American laws. The 
West, then, demands the Pacific Railroad, to add to 
the prosperity of the country, to open new outlets 
for the distribution of commerce, and new sources 
for our national wealth and enterprise. Americans, 
it is the navigable rivers on the Atlantic which 
have populated your states. This made it easy to 
receive and send off the products of the land, and 
sent settlers first upon the Avater-courses. As these 
became populous, the settlers on them drove back 
into the interior the succeeding emigrants. The 
valley of the INIississippi was thus peopled. So the 
borders of the Hudson, Connecticut, and Penobscot 
Rivers, and Narragansett Bay. At the beginning 
there were no interior communications to protect 
the settlements on the rivers, and hence they were 
not populated so rapidly as the Mississippi valley. 
Steamers were coeval with that settlement, and this 
has caused its rapid increase of population. 

During the early peopling of the country, and 
before the introduction of steam navigation, pack- 
horses were used to carry goods; but the danger and 



THE PACIFIC RMLROAD. to 

expense rendered this mode of trade exceedingly 
limited. The usual time, then, was six months to 
make a journey from New Orleans to St. Louis by 
water, which is now performed in eight or twelve 
days. It was the steamboat, and that alone, which 
opened the commerce of the Mississippi valley. 
Corn, Avheat, iron, hemp, coal, would all have been 
comparatively useless without this mode of trans- 
portation. 

You see now, Americans, how and why the 
valleys and rivers of the Mississippi were penetrated. 
On the coast of the Pacific the case is altogether 
different. The states and territories we own there 
never can be settled as the Atlantic states have been. 
^YhJl Because neither steamers nor sail-boats 
can penetrate them. A land route is the only way 
this ever can- be accomplished. But will an ordi- 
nary road do it? No, it could never be made to 
pay expenses of transportation. People would 
therefore refuse to dwell there, while they could 
seek the water-courses of the Atlantic and Pacific 
for settlement. The cause why individual enter- 
prise entered into our favorite valleys, and occupied 
them, and grew wealthy,was owing to their access to 
7* 



74 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

the sea, and other navigable waters, which pene- 
trated the interior country. 

Now, what has been done for the Atlantic states 
by steamboats must be done for the Pacific states by 
raih'oad. And let us be assured of one thing, that, 
with a railroad across the continent, the value of 
the whole country would be increased incalculably 
beyond what all our rivers have done, or possibly 
can do. No other inducement ever will carry set- 
tlers to the interior countries of the Pacific states. 
But, with a raikoad, they would soon convert that 
whole country to a flower-garden. The entire year, 
at all seasons, would be open to the markets. The 
energy and enterprise of the settlers would increase 
with the means of transit at hand. The ice in the 
Atlantic states, in the cold season, has always been 
a bar to industry ; but this would no longer inter- 
fere with progress. 

The Pacific Railroad will, of necessity, do all the 
business of the waters in those territories ; the 
Hudson, the Ohio, and Mississippi, would pour their 
commerce into that railroad passage. Thus this 
thoroughfare will extend our commerce and spread 
our population on the Pacific, as the steamboat 



THE PACIFIC RAILRO-ID. 75 

navigation has spread the plains of the Mississippi 
and Missouri Rivers. 

Look at California and Oregon, how witliin three 
years and a half they have gathered a population 
of at least a half a million ! What has done this ? 
The gold mines alone. If, then, with a land journey 
of three or four months, and a costly sea voyage of 
thirty or forty days, population has thus accumu- 
lated, what may be expected when the railroad shall 
have reduced the distance from San Francisco to 
Washington city to seven days, and the telegraph 
has brought us into communication in one single 
day ? For such will actually be the case. 



CHAPTER II. 

Americans, what has been the consequence of 
legiskting for the states of the Pacific abeacly, 
which cannot be reached under a six weeks' travel ? 
Let the Indian massacres, and those of Panama, 
the dangers and sufferings of immigrants, the black 
catalogue of crime which has made almost a Sodom 
of California, the utter perversion of the rights of 
suffrage by the ballot-box, answer. The disorders 
which have been created there, the villanous prac- 
tices of stuffing the ballot-box, the elevation of the 
scum of society and traitors to ofiice, — all these, 
and other shocking spectacles, which, as a necessity, 
caused the Vigilance Committee to be appointed by 
the people for their own protection and safety 
against these ruffians and nuirderers, are greatly 
owing to their isolated condition. 

For these causes, a separate republic on the 
Pacific must ever suffer the most serious dangers, 
and especially if there should be cause for for- 
eign invasion. Nothing will remedy these evils in 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. i i 

due season but the establishment of a raih'oad to 
the Pacific. This would at once rectify all the 
present difficulties, and regenerate the condition of 
the people. 

The idea of a Southern repuljlic may at first 
seem absurd. But would the united interest of 
Lower California, the western coast of Mexico, a 
part of the British possessions opposite Vancouver's 
and Charlotte's Island, and removed from the evils 
of a French population, be of no account, joined 
to California ? Would not the commerce and the 
gold, and its free soil, interfere with the harmony 
of the Southern States of this Union ? Most un- 
doubtedly. Why not, then, settle the question, not 
for a time, but forever, by putting a railway, that 
shall bind with a cord of iron the states of the 
Pacific and Atlantic ? 

Independent of the trade of the United States 
and Canada, this road would be the great forwarder 
of the staples of China and the East Indies. The 
reason is, that it would be the shortest, quickest, 
and least expensive route. The passage by this 
land route can be effected from three to five miles 
per hour quicker than by any sea or wator route 
that could possibly be devised. 



78 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

No one can compute the extent of trade from ? 
railroad across the continent, connecting the Colum- 
bia and San Francisco Rivers with New York, 
China, Japan, Oregon, Australia, the Sandwich 
Islands, California, the seaports of Europe, United 
States, and Canada. Americans, these would all 
commercially centre on this road. The distance 
from New York to California is thirty-two hundred 
miles. Allowing the usual rates of railroad travel, 
with time to eat and to rest on the journey, it Avill 
require seven days. If in an emergency, and the 
usual delays were abandoned, the travel could be 
made with ease in four and a half days, at thirty 
miles an hour ! 

Until gold settled California, the merchants of 
our country had but a limited knowledge of the 
trade on the western coast of the Pacific, to China, 
Japan, and India. Consequently, it was the local 
traffic of California, Oregon, and Australia, that 
opened to Adew the fact that the commercial capa- 
bilities of the Pacific are really greater than the 
Atlantic. The tea trade and sperm whale are 
confined to the Pacific ; while the great staples, 
sugar, tobacco, wheat, and corn, grow as well on 
the Pacific as on the Atlantic. 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 79 

The Sandwich, Society, New Hebrides, Friendly, 
New Britain, Philippine, and Ladrone Islands, are 
all accessible, by steamboats, from California ; and 
all their products, therefore, would be turned to 
use, if the railroad were there. China will unlock 
her doors as never before when this temptation to 
extend her commerce is presented. Australia will 
reap the benefit ; while California, the great out- 
post of the Pacific, will not pause in the opportu- 
nity to show the world, and especially this beloved 
people, what industry will accomplish, in connection 
with gold, in which resource she is now only second 
to Great Britain. 

How has England obtained ascendency over the 
commerce of the world ? By making it free. 
England, Holland, and the United States, which 
compose three fourths of the foreign commerce, 
acknowledge entire freedom in every commercial 
pursuit ; and, now that we have entered the Pacific 
by right and title, with our steamships and our 
experience, what shall prevent us from acquiring a 
commercial ascendency over England, Holland, and 
the world? We ask you, Americans, if anything 
shall do it ? You say. No. Then get about your 
railroad, and you may say this in earnest. 



80 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

By the improvement in steam and ship-building, 
our mariners perform the same voyage to-day in 
half the time they did fifty years ago. We have 
already made railroads on the two continents, and 
we are altogether a changed people since 1800. 
For twenty-five years after that, our commerce had 
no facility from steamboats or railways ; and it has 
been but twenty years since we began to realize 
their full value. All the sources of commerce then 
were those tributarv to the seaboard, while the 
wealth of the country was kept, from want of com- 
munication, beyond their reach. We had not then, 
either, the men of method and mind equal to the 
emergencies of trade, as we have now. We had 
not a monied capital then, as now, opened to all. 
When we compare ourselves with the past, and see 
what new facilities of greatness the nation has 
found out, we should be grateful, elated with our 
destiny, and ready for action. 

And if, with our small means, we ha^-e attained 
such development on our Atlantic borders, what, 
with our ships, our steamboats, our capital, our 
experience, and our railroad, are we not destined 
to accomplish on the Pacific shores ? The railroad 
will open new strength, and new channels of 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 81 

thought, as well as action. It will make our coun- 
try the agent and carrier of the commerce of the 
world ; and it becomes all classes of our country 
— all who regard its prosperity, all who regard the 
benefit to their children and their children's chil- 
dren — to rally to the railroad as the great highway 
of our national prosperity and greatness. 

While men are quibbUng and blundering about 
the best route, Nicaragua might make a canal or 
railroad, and establish trading settlements, Avhich 
would materially interfere with our prospects. 
EA'ery day gives greater importance to the political, 
commercial, geographical, moral, and social reasons 
which show that we are risking much, losing much, 
by the delay. 

The Atlantic was always more formidable to ex- 
plorers than the Pacific ; conscfpiently the East, in 
the early ages, was more rapidly populated than the 
West. The oceans, we must remember, were as 
much ours by right, before we had a sail or liarbor 
on our coast, as now. The Pacific temtory was 
acquired by us through the Mexican war. It was 
purchased then by the sweat and blood of American 
men. It has been the means of increasing our com- 
mercial wealth and greatness. To occupy and enjoy 



82 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

this, the raih'oad has been projected by the wisdom 
of men who, from the beginning, have seen that 
this territory, obtained at so dear a cost to the 
United States, must either be made subservient to 
the interests of the whole country, or be wrested 
from us for a new republic. 

It cost just twenty thousand dollars to discover 
America ; and for this small sum the Queen of Spain 
had to pledge her jewels, so great were the financial 
embarrassments of the government from the Moorish 
wars. It is true, Columbus never saw the United 
States in its present limits ; but he was at Cuba, 
five degrees from Florida. Henry of England took 
six years to determine the proposal which Columbus 
made him for aid in this same discovery. 

How incapable was the human mind at that period 
to comprehend the advantage of spending twenty 
thousand dollars, to see if there was any such place 
at all as this New World of ours ! Just as incredu- 
lous are many to the prospective results of the 
Pacific Railroad. Yes, with all the light and knowl- 
edge, and the mathematical demonstrations of its 
effects upon our national destiny, the timid and 
circumscribed intellect is as hard to convince as the 
child is that there is not a man in the moon. 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 83 

When America was discovered, England had not 
a greater population than we had when we declared 
independence. Printing had been but twenty-one 
years in use ; the English language had not been 
spoken a century ; there were but four merchant 
ships belonging to London, and the people were op- 
posed to trade. Two centuries elapsed, after that, 
before England had dug a canal. Manufactures 
were almost unknown ; and it was upwards of a 
century after the discovery of America before Eng- 
land built her first stage-coach. 

And now, with a railroad access to the entire con- 
tinent, the blessing of our unequalled government 
and wise and wholesome laws will make us felt and 
propitiated by the entire world. What makes Eng- 
land the first commercial power in the world, but the 
control she has over the markets of Asia and the 
continent of Europe ? The possession of California 
has now added to tlie national wealth of America, 
by opening to us the same commerce of Asia. 

Central as the United States are between the two 
continents of Europe and Asin, and producing the 
two great staples of tobacco and cotton, wc need but 
a highway of steam from the Atlantic to tlie Pacific, 
and mail steamers from California to China, to over- 



84 THE PACinC RAILROAD. 

step England, and claim supremacy in commerce to 
her. Why has England, thas far, made us depend- 
ent upon her for commercial news ? Because she 
has an overland route, ^vhich secures her mail facili- 
ties. The mails are taken from London to Canton, 
and vice versa, in sixty-five days ; to us, in seventy- 
seven days. If we construct a railroad, now, to 
the Pacific, and connect California with China by 
mail steamers, the whole distance from Xew York 
to China will be accomplished in the incredibly short 
time of twenty-four days. England then would be- 
come dependent upon the United States, not only 
for mail facilities, but for the products of Asia, 
which would be made available through us. 

England, by her Cape of Good Hope and overland 
routes, has obtained a monopoly over the East India 
trade and that of China. The government of the 
East Indies forces opium to be introduced, which is 
the important drug for the Chinese markets. The 
sale of opium amounts to thirty millions annually. 
Besides, the cotton and other fabrics which England 
sends to China bring back to Great Britain annu- 
ally twenty millions of dollars. Nothing but the 
American trade has saved China from being ex- 
hausted in money. We deal with China to about 



THE PACIFIC B.iILEOAD. 85 

half the amount of England ; for which >ve send 
gpecie, or hilLs drawn to our account, payal»le in 
London. Now, it needs but for us to establish more 
rapid communications, to enjoy all the advantages 
England now possesses. Our central position gives 
this natural facility. We have but to use the appli- 
ance of science and art which God has given us the 
Intelligence to appreciate, to take the commercial 
balance into our own hands. 

It Is now reduced to a moral certaintv that cotton 
cannot be grown to any extent in any soil yet found 
out but that of the United States. It Is, therefore, 
the first staple of our trade. Tobacco Is next in im- 
portance, as such. Its use Is now becoming general 
throughout Europe and in some parts of ^Vsia. It 
is only kept from China by En;rland, who forces 
opium up^jn her people, and makes the difficulty of 
obtaining Ujhacco from as. We alone might substi- 
tute tobacco for opium, and thus rescue a people 
perishing so rapidly from the use of that poisonous 
drug ; the Chinese greatly preferring tobaceo, but 
the EDgllsh, jealoiLs of our staple, take care to 
throw every obstacle in the way of itsinti Ion, 

well knowing that it would entirely suj^ersede the 
use of the deadly narcotic in which they are 60 
8* 



86 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

deeply interested. We miglit receive, in return for 
our tobacco and cotton, tlie amount in tea and silk, 
for which we now pay twenty-five millions annually. 

Look at the true state of the case. England has 
to buy of us the raw material, out of which she 
fabricates the basis of her foreign trade. She gets 
our wool and cotton, and makes muslins, cottons, 
calicoes, handkerchiefs, and cotton yarn, of our cot- 
ton, and broadcloth, cassimeres, blankets, camlets, 
of our wool. We also make the same articles. 
Both export to China ; yet we find, by a compari- 
son of one year, that ours reach scarcely one tiven- 
tieth part of England's, for the reason given, — that 
she commands the market by her mail facilities of 
communication. 

Take the trade in tea, and compare our commerce 
and England's with China, in the sixty years from 
the time we began to trade with China in that arti- 
cle, and look at it. The first voyage of commerce 
from the United States to China was in 1785 ; but 
the trade was not really opened until 1792. It has 
so increased that now our importation of tea amounts 
to sixteen millions of dollars annually. From the 
beginning of our trade with China, we have im- 
ported from that country to the value of upwards 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 87 

of two hundred and fifty-eight millions of dollars, 
while our exports have amounted to only a little over 
eighty-six millions. Thus we have paid China in 
precious metals upwards of one hundred, and 
seventy-two millions of dollars ! 

From 1792, when our trade began with China, 
to 1827, silver to the amount of eighty-eight mil- 
lions and upwards had been shipped direct from 
the United States to China. In 1827, China, 
owing to the opium trade, had become indebted to 
England very largely, and American bills, payable 
in England, began to be used in lieu of coin ; and 
from 1834, these American bills on Chinese accounts 
amounted to about sixteen and a half millions, 
while the specie in that time sent from England 
was only between seven and eight millions ! 

So, since 1834, England has been steadily drain- 
ing our coin to the amount of seventy-five millions 
seven hundred and fifty-seven thousand seven hun- 
dred and ninety-seven dollars, and settling with 
China by bills of credit, for which we have to pay 
specie to her. 



CHAPTER III. 

Now, this drain of England upon us is prepos- 
terous. Our own products are sufficient to pay for 
all Ave get from China ; and it is our products 
which pay a premium to the labor of England, and 
cause a loss to our manufjicturers and mechanics. 
It is the increase of our products by the art and value 
of British labor which actually pays for nearly the 
wdiole of the teas and raw silk England imports 
from China. 

There are other advantages connected with the 
steamers to transpose the mart from China to the 
Pacific, meeting the railroad at that terminus. 
These steamers can be so constructed as to supersede 
the government force needed there, and save the 
treasury annually one million and a quarter of 
dollars. The extensive and unprotected coasts of 
California and Oregon render them liable to foreign 
aggression, and demand, in this point of view, the 
serious consideration of the people. Before the 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 89 

acquisition of California we had two liiindred ves- 
sels employed in trade in the Pacific. Since then, 
there are, at least, six hundred and fifty American 
trading vessels. The amount of our property ex- 
posed there on the coast is nearly seventy millions. 
The whaling business alone is valued at thirty 
millions, with an employed force of eighteen thou- 
sand men in the North Pacific ; and our annual 
revenue is estimated at ten millions. 

Our acquisition on the Pacific at once inaugu- 
rated a new era in the industry, energy, and enter- 
prise, of the American people. It was their volun- 
tary labor which levelled mountains, felled forests, 
and swept the plains with a torrent of emigration, 
in the valley of the St. Lawrence, and the basin of 
our lakes. And when the facilities of moving 
whole bodies of men are given to the people by 
the railroad, and time and space at once annihilated, 
the pulpit, the press, and institutions for education, 
will multiply, and thus expand and strengthen the 
bonds of our liberties. r 

The geographical, physical, and moral power of 
the United States constitute the ])asis of their 
greatness. Great Britain has thirty-four thousand 
square miles ; Austria, Hungary, and Italy, three 



90 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

hundred thousand ; France, less than two hundred 
thousand ; we, Americans, over three and a half 
millions ! Geographically, Russia compares as 
one to one hundred and twenty ; Austria, as one to 
nine ; France, as one to five and a half ; United 
States, as one to ninety-six ! While we have there- 
fore a field to display our enterprise, all we want 
is avenues to exert it in its full vigor. 

This railway will save ten or twelve days over 
the Panama route. It will ti'ansfer the capital of 
Europe to us, which is now used in monopolizing 
the trade of Asia. It will give to Americans the 
key of the West, and fix forever the channel of 
Asiatic commerce (which for centuries has been 
oscillating) upon the best, safest, and quickest 
route of transit through the heart of this nation. 
Safety, security, protection, advancement, all require 
the construction of this Pacific Railroad. The gold 
of California has now become the essential stimu- 
lant to all the industrial pursuits of the country. 
The destruction of the monthly shipment to New 
York Avould send a shiver through all the commerce, 
finance, and industry, of this country, that would 
be incredibly severe, in a single week. 

Now, consider how easy foreign cruisers and 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 91 

privateers could c-ut us off from this receipt of the 
essential clement of our national vitality ! The 
gold now comes to us over foreign seas, through 
foreign territory, and over a circuit of six thousand 
miles. In the event of war, whole fleets would 
interpose to take from us this arm of our strength. 
Ships, and troops, and missions, are now necessary 
to protect our national interest, and protect our 
commerce on the Pacific ; the railway would then 
protect us, and save all our commerce and territory 
from foreign aggression. 

Throughout the world's history, nations have 
been elevated or depressed as they advanced or 
lost commerce ; and the changes for three thou- 
sand years in Asiatic commerce have settled the 
question, that the ocean is the obstacle to foreign 
trade. Land now has been found the faciUty, and 
the steam-car the only sure means to keep up dis- 
tant communications. The United States have 
consequently the advantage over Europe. We 
have half the road to India on our own land, the 
rest on a peaceable sea which washes our shores, 
and with an impenetrable bar to Europe of the 
whole diameter of the earth. 

This railroad, then, will exalt us to be mistress 



92 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

of the commerce of the wide world. It will be at 
the same time the impregnable fortification to save 
us from the assault of vast armies, or from fierce 
and bloody battles within our own borders. Who 
would stop to count the cost of the mere construc- 
tion, when every interest dear to the hope of citizen 
and Christian is staked upon the result ? 

Aside from the commercial and political necessity, 
the economy and convenience of the nation, the 
interests of all the people, demand this road now. 
Americans, take the whole history of the roads in 
this country in the past twenty-five years, and you 
will find every dollar invested in them has been 
worth ten to you. 

The vast increase of the West in population and 
lands is only to be ascribed to its roads. In five 
years Illinois has doubled her population, and in- 
creased her lands five-fold. In these five years 
ten or twelve hundred miles of railway have been 
built. 

In a moral and educational view, this road must 
have an immense value. The tendency of popula- 
tion is all west ; the field for the growth and 
prosperity of the people is there. In a few years 
it will decide all ournational measures in Congress; 



Tin-: PACIFIC RAILROAD. 93 

it will control our national rcvonnos ; and, as the 
agent for transportation of newspapers, cheap books, 
and all those methods which tend to enlighten and 
strengthen the Protestant power of our country, 
the value of the road cannot be computed. The 
loss to the country by omitting to build this road 
has been more already than would have supported 
the entire annual expenses of the government. 

The American people now almost unanimously 
demand this railroad as the great necessity of our 
times, and they require it to- be 1)uilt in whatever 
latitude the great mass of the population mostly 
iiTLOve ; — on whatever line is shortest, most expedi- 
tious in travel, and most convenient to the thirty 
millions of people who inhabit our thirty-one states 
and territories. 

Three routes out of the eight surveyed at gov- 
ernment expense have been pronounced feasible by 
the Secretary of War in his report to Congress. 
These arc the northern, the central, and the south- 
ern lines. By all of them the harbor of San Fran- 
cisco is acknowledged to be the essential terminus 
of the road on the west, as it is now the centre of 
all our commerce on the Pacific coast. The ques- 
tion, then, is, what point on the east as a terminus 

9 



94 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

will correspond with San Francisco, as the centre 
of the greatest amount of population and commer- 
cial enterprise on the west? 

The distance on the southern line from San Fran- 
cisco to New York is three thousand six hundred 
and forty-seven miles ; on the northern line, includ- 
ing distance yet unsurveyed, three thousand six 
hundred and thirty-four ; on the central Hue, three 
thousand two hundred and forty miles. This would 
give a distance of four hundred miles shorter to the 
central route. Texas has granted to any company 
that constructs the railroad on the southern route 
ten thousand two hundred and forty acres of land 
for every mile of road built. Now, these lands 
of Texas are the only unimproved lands on this 
continent where cotton can be cultivated. Cotton 
is the staple of our commerce ; the rest of the 
world is depending on us for its growth, and we do 
not own now a single acre of government land 
favorable to its production. In this point of view, 
the grants of land Texas offers become incalculably 
valuable to our whole country. 

The charge for transporting goods across the 
Panama Raih'oad is a tenth less than before its con- 
struction. Four or five hours now serve to carry 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 95 

passengers and freight across the isthmus, Avhich 
formerly occupied three days of dangerous travel. 
Freight is now reduced to one hundred and twenty- 
five dollars the ton. But a railroad from the coast 
of Texas would not only save time, but reduce the 
tonnage to one half the amount it now costs from 
New York to California. The saving of freight, 
the saving of time, would at once induce every pru- 
dent and sagacious merchant to adopt the railroad 
across the continent, and thus gain thirty or forty 
days. 

The central route starts from New York to the 
Pacific, and has already been completed to Iowa 
City. From New York city it followes the Hudson 
River, the Erie Canal, the great lakes, from Buffalo 
to Chicago, to Rock Island. The easy passage for 
a bridge which is placed across the JMississippi at 
Rock Island seems to have been marked out by 
Providence as the means to facilitate commerce across 
the river, and renders the route to San Francisco 
the most direct and advantageous in the judgment 
of many eminent men. Next year the route will 
have reached Council Bluff, ^ill this by indivi(kial 
enterprise, without government aid ; and which 



96 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

will make the next census count in Iowa over a 
million of inhabitants. 

All that this route needs from the goYcrnment to 
complete the road to San Francisco from Iowa City 
or Council Blufif is a grant of land, taking nothing 
from the treasury, but augmenting its revenues by 
bringing the lands into the market. This route is 
in the centre of about one half of the population 
of the whole country ; and it is fair to presume, from 
what has been achieved by the industry and enter- 
prise of the West, that the road will be built on 
this route, whether favored by the general govern- 
ment or not. 

It was the Erie Canal of New York that made 
the first great revolution in the trade of the coun- 
try, and exalted that state in wealth and grandeur. 
Ohio succeeded Avith her canals between the lakes 
and the valley, and western trade at once went into 
New York. 

The canals of Maryland and Pennsylvania had 
no water communications from the Atlantic to the 
Ohio, and failed for that reason ; while New York 
had a monopoly for thirty years, or until the rail- 
road penetrated the entire AVest to the banks of the 
Mississippi. Steam conquers all other motors. The 



THE TACIFIC RAILROAD. 97 

incredible revenues from the central road of Pennsyl- 
vania, and the Baltimore and Ohio road, for the 
present year, show this result. 

It is steam which has given England her power 
over the continent, by facilitating the transportation 
of her coal, iron, salt, and other l)ulky articles. 
Why do the inhabitants of cities and towns enjoy 
greater advantages than those who are settled over a 
sparse country ? Because there is an ampler field 
for purchase, a greater variety of employments 
for industry to suit the ability and capacity of the 
laborer, and greater f[uickness in finishing work. 
Where population is collected the competition is 
greater. 

Now, the Pacific Railroad will do for the people 
of our vast country just what the city or town now 
does. It will concenti'atc numbers from small and 
distant places in an incredibly short time. This 
will at once lead to prosperity. Greece arose to 
commercial greatness in this way. Towns in Hol- 
land, Zealand, and Flanders, for centuries prospered 
by these means. Switzerland thus holds intercourse 
by the Rhine with Holland. While those countries 
without roads, or canals, or other water facilities, 
have never risen intellectually or commercially. 
9* 



98 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

We have already witnessed the ejDfect of the rail- 
road upon our vast West, Avhich has conduced to 
individual comfort and prosperity wherever it has 
penetrated. There is yet another advantage to be 
attained by the road across the continent, not to be 
overlooked by Americans, and that is, its effect upon 
the diffusion of Protestant principles over our land. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The endless holidays of the Catholic church have 
always checked industry ; and it is a fact to be 
remembered, that, although the nominal Roman 
Catholics (but greater proportion infidels) are more 
numerous than Protestants in Europe, a much 
larger share of Europe's exports comes from the 
skill and ingenuity of Protestants than Catholics. 
In Ireland, linen- weaving, the only great branch 
of manufacture, is almost wholly in the hands of 
Protestants. In the vast margin of the West yet 
to be filled, it becomes a question of the first 
moment to the nation that it be occupied by Prot- 
estants, whose education tends to strengthen our 
liberties, while that of Romanism is designed to 
subvert them. The West will soon hold the bal- 
ance in our national exchequer, and elect our chief 
ruler ; and it is impossible to be too vigilant in 
promoting and spreading Protestant education over 
all that portion of our people. The railroad, more 



100 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

than soil, more than mines, will tend to this result, 
by bringing all sections of the Union together, and 
advancing knowledge to the remotest limits. 

The revenue of our country arises chiefly by 
consumption ; and the wealth and power of our 
whole country would be increased and secured by 
the increase of a Protestant American population. 
The individual income of such a people would 
also be increased. Why ? Because the reward of 
labor in all the manufacturing and mechanic arts 
would induce the individual to adopt a uniform 
pursuit ; while the father of a family would not be 
compelled, as now, often to sacrifice education and 
personal comfort for the mere sake of living. 

Thus, Americans, as the commerce of the country 
expanded, so would all the arts and pursuits of 
industry expand, as it grew great and powerful. 
The Pacific Railroad must increase the medium 
which circulates and regulates commerce ; it must 
enlighten and expand the energies of men ; it 
must spread the influence of American institu- 
tions over mankind, and dissipate that very dark- 
ness, under which nun liave been deluded, and 
their means squandered, to grow rich without labor, 
or wise without learning. Foreign force and do 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 101 

mestic treachery have struck at the foundation of 
our political edifice. We need at once to balance 
the public mind by free Protestant culture, so that 
our people shall reason before they act. 

Before the discovery of the mines of California 
and Australia, the coin came from Mexico and 
South America. Since the discovery of these, a 
new era has been inaugurated in our commerce 
with the world. In 1849 and '50, the first flood 
of gold came into the country ; and in the three 
following years, '51, '52, and '53, the enormous 
sum of one hundred and sixty-six millions had been 
added to the circulation, including about thirty 
millions in the hands of individuals. This caused 
a change in the condition of the people, who, see- 
ing the steady increase in three years, predicted a 
rise which would, at last, amount to one hundred 
millions annually. Then everything in specula- 
tion, expense, and importation, increased. Banks 
sprang up, and paper was used as gold ; wages 
and work increased ; railroad bonds were issued 
by the million ; life and fire insurance companies 
multiplied. But on what was all this based? 
Was it upon the gold and silver in the bank vaults 
of the country ? Not at all ; but upon the fiction 



102 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

whicii men without reasoning adopted, and the 
delusion under which they acted. 

By the returns of the first six years subsequent 
to the discovery of gold in California, two hundred 
millions of that metal had been added to the cir- 
culation of the world. Australia, though not so 
long known, brought fifty millions more ; making 
two hundred and fifty millions more money in use 
than before the discovery of these mines. 

By the ofiicial banking returns of the United 
States and Europe for that period, we find that 
there was no more money on hand then than before 
the discovery. Where, then, did this metallic cur- 
rency go ? Why, it went directly into the hands 
of the people. It, therefore, was not the instru- 
ment of the credit structure, which is the proper 
and only means for making paper the representa- 
tive of gold and silver ; so that, while this in- 
crease of gold gave fancied security to the credit 
it induced, it had not really anything to do with it. 

The mining districts, including all the valuable 
metals found on the Pacific, will, in themselves, 
make the railroad eminently desirable for the trans- 
portation of these metals. Consider, Americans, 
that, after eight years of constant mining, nuilfour 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 10 



o 



hundred millions of dollars obtained^ they are still 
as luxurious as ever. Gold is seen embedded in 
every stream, mountain, and vale. The copper 
mines of Lake Superior and Eastern Tennessee 
have not made even the demand for this metal less 
profitable. Now, that obtained from the new 
copper mines of Ajo is wagoned all the way to 
San Diego, and thence to San Francisco ; and 
still, with all that cost, a large profit is left to the 
transporter. The richest silver mines ever dis- 
covered are in Sonora, in Mexico, which now 
belong to us. Silver, perfectly pure, has been 
clipped by the sword of an officer, as a specimen. 
The Indians have deterred explorers, hitherto, from 
penetrating these mines ; but, now that they have 
become American property, we shall find American 
enterprise entering them. 

Americans, you perceive these rich mines of 
gold, iron, silver, and copper, will at once be 
made accessible by the railroad. Thus it will add 
to the capital of our country vastly more than it 
can possibly cost. This Pacific railway will 1)e 
the harbinger of the future glory and aggrandize- 
ment of American institutions. In twenty days 
we shall be in the most populous cities of Europe 



104 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

and Asia. We have already consummated treaties 
which secure commerce and trade to Americans, 
and protect their lives, property, and religious 
liberty, in Siam and Japan, so long closed against 
the trade of the world ; and then we will com- 
mand the accumulated wealth of seven hundred 
millions of people, and which has enriched every 
nation that has had any kind of control over it. 

England, to maintain her ascendency over this 
trade, has already three over-land mail routes, and 
is now engaged in devising three more, to carry 
this Eastern commerce to the British empire. But 
a railroad, to do this for England, would have to 
extend six thousand five hundred miles, and would 
take fourteen years to huild it. Now, by the com- 
promise of 1850, which Millard Fillmore signed, 
as President of the United States, we secured the 
ten leagues of country on the Pacific coast, which 
included California, and planted our flag there. 
And, by this means, — made our blessing, under 
God, — we can make our national road, which Avill 
convey us across the continent to the Bay of San 
Francisco in seven days ; and ten or twelve days 
from there, by steam, will land Americans in the 
populous countries of Eastern and Western Asia 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 105 

and Western Europe. It will give them a hold on 
the -wealth of China, which has been increasing 
for six thousand years, and bring them in contact 
with her seven hundi'ed millions of inhabitants in 
twenty days from the day they leave New York. 

This railroad, then, will put sectional agitation 
among our people at rest, and set them about these 
new channels of trade and commerce. We have 
now control of the cotton market of the world, and 
the certain prospect of having the same power over 
wool. Iron, also, in every state but one, is abun- 
dant enough to supply the whole American conti- 
nent ; and, in a few years, we shall likewise con- 
trol the market of this great item in trade. Gold, 
too, will tluii 1)0 more rapidly diiUiscd over the 
civilized world, and this will facilitate the activity 
of our commerce. A areater amount of labor will 
then be made available, to work the mines of Cali- 
fornia and Australia, than ever before. 

The effect of the discovery of the precious 
metals in California has been to stimulate the 
latent energies of men to an extent never ^vit- 
nessed before, and has been the means of forcing 
the necessity of a railway upon the common sense 
of the American people. The poor man will be 
10 



106 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

more benefited than the rich by this road ; and the 
labor employed in the development of our new 
territory, and the exploration of its mines, will 
prevent any superabundance of laborers in the 
most thickly-settled parts of the country, and stop 
the poor man from working for the pittance he now 
does. 

The manufacturer, also, by the increased free- 
dom to commerce which the constant and rapid 
transportation of gold from California and Austra- 
lia will then command, will find himself better able 
to cope with the manufacturers of Europe. 

According to Professor Blake, the great gold 
field in California, notwithstanding the large in- 
crease to the circulation of the precious metals, has 
not yet been fully explored. There is a field seven 
hundred miles in length, and about fifty in breadth, 
containing thirty-five thousand square miles, eleven 
thousand of which arc rich in gold, sometimes 
extending to the depth of six feet in the sands of 
the coast. This is repeatedly washed out of the 
black sand by the tides. The number of square 
miles worked, but imperfectly, we are assured by 
Dr. Trask, in his work on geology, never exceeds 
four hundred at a time ; and fewer persons were 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 107 

engaged in mining in 1854 than in 1852, although 
the product of gold was in '52 forty-five millions 
of dollars, and in '54 sixty-one millions. This 
was owing to the increased advantages of working 
the mines by proper machinery. 

Now, by the highest authorities we find that the 
amount of gold in the whole world, in 1848, was 
two billions nine hundred millions of dollars, or six 
hundred millions of pounds ; Avhile, by the increase 
from the mines of California and Australia since 
that time, at least four billions of dollars have been 
added to that amount, which would make now, in 
the whole world, six billions nine hundred millions 
of dollars of gold, beside what is worked into jewelry 
and plate. And, Americans, does it not cause a 
thrill of triumph in your hearts to know that, of 
this increase to the precious metals, your own State 
of California has contributed three hundred and 
thirteen millions two hundred and eighty-five thou- 
sand five hundred and two dollars and seventy- 
seven cents ; and other parts of America, seventeen 
million seven hundred and sixty-six thousand seven 
hundred and sixty-eight dollars and fifty-seven 
cents ? 



CHAPTER V. 

M. Tegoborski, Counsel of the Empire of Russia, 
in writing of the influence of the gokl fields of 
California and Australia, estimates that by them 
the amount of gold and silver in use in Europe will 
be doubled in thirteen years, and throughout the 
whole world in twenty-four years. 

Beside, what is the effect of the discovery of the 
mines of California in Europe ? Why, it has 
raised real estate four per cent, per annum, and 
advanced all kinds of produce in like manner. It 
has also advanced the wages of labor in like ratio. 
How ? Because the poor working-man, before 
dependent on the employer for the mere sustenance 
of life, is now driven to another field of operation, 
and incited by the desire to accumulate, and thus 
changing often the state of things by making the 
rich man dependent on the laborer. 

So those who remained as well as those who 
went to California were benefited. If that was so 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 109 

in Europe, let us turn to our own country, — we, 
the possessors of California. We see how our 
commerce is extended ; we see, day hy day, how 
eagerly the accumulations of gold and silver in our 
bank-vaults are taken and transported into other 
countries, to bring back their merchandise to us. 
^Vhy ? Because its shipment to England, France, 
and Germany, equalizes the value of gold, and 
prevents the dangers to trade which result from 
keeping it under bars and bolts. The railroad to 
the Pacific has now become a necessity to the 
American people, that they may enjoy the free 
heritage God has given them, opening all the ave- 
nues to wealth and industry, and making their 
voice heard on the hills, in the valleys, the cities, 
and the plains, of the whole eartli. This, Ameri- 
cans, will be the great triumpli of the American 
States over commerce, mechanics, and manufac- 
tures, which nothing can impede beneath the stars. 
The railway and the canal will bo the true con- 
querors of the world. Around them will centre 
the industry and energy of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
There the Protestant emio-rant will seek his new 
home. They will become the majority of the 
10* 



110 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

population, and the consequent possessors of most 
of the property of the country. 

The telegraph will then become the electric 
medium of exchange, which, without a Adsible 
chain, will link the American Union to the world. 
" Lo, what hath God wrought ! " were the memo- 
rable words which passed over the wires of the 
first telegraph ever made in the United States, 
a few years since, between Baltimore and Washing- 
ton, a distance of but forty miles. Now, Ameri- 
cans, we not only find it in the full exercise of it$ 
magic power in all the states of this mighty Union, 
but actually preparing to bring us in speaking dis- 
tance of the other continent. 

You all know that the Island of St. John's, 
Newfoundland, is the most eastern point of North 
America, and Valencia is the most western harbor 
of the British Isles. The waters of the St. Law- 
rence have long since cut Newfoundland from the 
continent. Now a submarine telegraph has been 
laid, which brhigs Newfoundland and the main land 
again in contact ; and the distance from St. John's 
to New York, of one thousand seven hundred and 
eighty miles, can be reached by direct communi- 
cation. But still the ocean was to be crossed to 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. Ill 

reach Europe, and the question arose how this could 
best be done. Some proposed extending the line 
to Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe 
Islands ; but to this there were insurmountable 
objections, and, after the investigation of scien- 
tific men, it was decided that the line must also 
start from Newfoundland to Europe, a distance of 
nineteen hundred miles, on account of the depth of 
the water, essential to the success of the enterprise. 

The plan devised, and about to be executed, is 
this : A line of wire three thousand miles long will 
be placed on two war-ships in mid-ocean, one 
belonging to the United States, the other to Eng- 
land, These will each take half the wire. The 
wire will be covered with gutta percha coatings, 
and will be made of the best conducting material, 
accompanied by a machine, invented for the express 
purpose, by Dr. Whitehouse, of England, in order 
to ascertain when the wire is ])roken or damaged, 
and the exact point of interruption. 

Thus, Americans, by your inventive genius, you 
are with one grapple about to join Europe to this 
country by a telegraph, which will start at New- 
foundland, and end at Valencia, in Ireland, with 
one thousand nine hundred miles of cable resting 



112 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

in the Atlantic Ocean ! This is not an ideal 
sketch, but a living reality, that in 1857, next 
year, the British Isles and the United States, 
though divided by a stormy ocean of three thousand 
miles, will by science and machinery hold conversa- 
tional intercourse with each other ; and, at the 
same time, the distance by railway between Nova 
Scotia and Portland, JMaine, will have dimhiished 
our travelling distance from Europe eleven hundred 
miles ! 

These mighty works show the mutual benefit 
England and the United States are each to the 
other, while they continue as they are. "SVliile the 
energy of this great American people, too rapid for 
carrier pigeons, and even steam, and eager to extend 
and profit by every advantage in commerce, inven- 
tion, finance, science, and arts, and to move in the 
rapid march of civilization over the whole globe, 
has already forged the chain which is to bind us 
to the three ancient continents of the Eastern 
world. 

Well might Mr. Dallas, the American minister, 
declare that the great telegraph, now making, 
would afford Americans the opportunity soon to 
respond to the toast given to Americans in London 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 113 

before the dinner ended. " When famine distressed 
other kimls, in the land of Egypt there was bread." 
So Avith our beloved country : from tlie diversity of 
its soil and climate, its power in raising subsistence 
will so increase as the humbler condition of society 
advances by intelligence, that it would be physi- 
cally impossible to arrest the march of the American 
people in commerce, wealth, or mental activity. 

Now we come to the great question, who is to 
make the road to the Pacific, — Congress, that is, 
the general government, or the people ? 

We say it cannot be built without the coopera- 
tion of the government, because there are fifteen 
hundred miles between Missouri and Cahfornia, 
over which Congress alone has power to legislate. 
The constitution, which gives Congress the right to 
regulate commerce, allows the general government 
to build the road to California from New York, for 
a mail route, if it so decided. Congress can give 
or sell the public lands, as it pleases. Congress can 
appropriate money, if it pleases, to build a road or 
roads through the landed estate of the government 
for mail transportation, or military purposes. We 
do not advocate the especial claims of either of the 
three routes surveyed. Each has its advantages ; 



114 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

and all may be laterally connected, or ultimately 
and separately constructed. But, we say, had the 
present administration done its duty, and favored 
the building of the road to the Pacific three years 
ago, — instead of burning Greytown, making Ostend 
conferences to seize Cuba by " divine " right, and 
repealing the Missouri Compromise, which has 
brought upon us intestine war, — our country, 
instead of being divided, distracted, and agitated, 
would have been running a new race in dignity, 
and political and commercial greatness. 

The administration, on the contrary, early 
receded from this national measure. The leading 
presses, which sustained it, followed in elaborate 
articles against the road. Senators of the same 
political school declared the measure would be 
worse than the alien and sedition laws of John 
Adams. They saw no power in the constitution, 
while grant after grant, in the last seven years, has 
been made by Congress to the Southern and Western 
States. The people saw nothing to prevent it, and 
with more energy than ever before renewed that 
demand. 

When, therefore, the Democratic Convention met 
at Cincinnati, it was necessary to appease popular 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 115 

indignation on the administration's course upon the 
Pacific Raih'oad ; and while there existed in the 
minds of the leaders of the party the same de- 
termination to persevere in their old policy, and 
prevent the building of a national road to the 
Pacific, they introduced a sham resolution in favor 
of that measure, which ruse not being fully under- 
stood, the resolution tvas three times voted down in 
the convention, and only passed finally after the 
members became initiated in the scheme to cheat 
the people, and understood its introduction Tvas 
simply to secure their votes. 

There is one fact about that proceeding which 
the American people should remember and con- 
sider in -this connection, and that is, that the 
Pennsylvania delegation, the friends and neighbors 
of Mr. Buchanan, to the last, gave their vote 
against the sham pretence to favor the railroad. 
And what is still further to be borne in mind is the 
fjict that the resolution pretending to favor the 
Pacific Railroad, which was intended to secure the 
votes of the North and West, was not introduced 
until after the platform containing a resolution op- 
posing internal improvements of all kinds had been 
passed, and after James Buchanan had been nomi- 



116 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

nated on it. So we find that not a single demo- 
cratic paper at the South publishes that raih'oad 
resolution at all, as embodied in the platform. 

The American party is fully committed to the 
fortunes of the Pacific Railroad, in its advocacy of 
internal improA'ements to promote the common inter- 
est and welfare of all the states ; and, should it 
attain to power, it will as certainly secure cooperation 
from the executive of Millard Fillmore, as that 
water finds its level. And the people will imme- 
diately perceive how favorably his action will com- 
pare with the present administration, commanding, 
by its precious and beneficent results, the gratitude 
and favor of the whole country. They know very 
well that Mr. Buchanan would not sanction the meas- 
ure if elected to the presidency, as did the whole 
democratic party know it. But they know the pU- 
ancy of their candidate, even better than his friends 
and neighbors ; and that he would appear to be the 
warm advocate of the Pacific Railroad, or anything 
else, to secure the suffrages of enough of the Amer- 
ican people to elect him, with the aid of the foreign 
vote. And it is only done in other places, where 
it is necessary to aid the democrats in their pres- 
ent struggle for a continuance of power under Bu- 



THE PACIFIC RAILIIOAD. 117 

chanan. So that Americans can decieb how much 
his enterprise has to expect in that quarter. 

Ill view of the absolute fact that the creed of the 
democratic party, as emhodicd in the platform of 
the Cincinnati Conyention, most explicitly opposes 
the railway to the Pacific, and that no sectional 
party can make this road, which needs the joint 
action of the whole thirty-one states, we can dis- 
cover no possible hope in the next four years for 
the continental intercourse and commerce, the con- 
venience and blessings which it will afford this 
whole people, but in the election of Millard Fill- 
more, 

Americans must remember that the only appro- 
priations for the improvements of our commercial 
channels, since the days of Gen. Jackson, 1837, 
have been made during the presidential term of 
Mr. Fillmore, with the exception of a trifling 
amount expended under Mr. Tyler. This being 
so, it becomes now of infinite moment, when this 
road is needed to preserve the integrity of the 
Union, as well as to save our Pacific states from a 
separation from the Atlantic states, that wc should 
have immediate legislative and executive action on 
the subject. California was brought into this 
11 



118 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

Union by the compromise of 1850, and by the tried 
statesman, Millard Fillmore, who, in his first mes 
sage to Congress after he became President of the 
United States, expressed his executive recommend- 
ation in this strong and explicit language : 

" The unprecedented growth of our territories 
on the Pacific in wealth and population, and the 
consequent increase of their social and commercial 
relations with the Atlantic states, seems to render 
it the duty of the government to use all its con- 
stitutional POWER to improve the means of inter- 
course with them. The importance of opening a 
line of communication, the best and most expedi- 
tious of which the nature of the country will admit, 
between the valley of the Mississippi and the 
Pacific, was brought to your notice by my prede- 
cessor, in his annual message ; and as the reasons 
which he presented in favor of the measure still 
exist in full force, I beg leave to call your atten- 
tion to them, and to repeat the recommendations 
then made by him." • 




-^^■a.vedb,'-^ 



^/3. 







ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 



CHAPTER I. 

A RECOGNITION of the Protestant religion as the 
support of this government has been made by all 
who have administered it in the tnie spirit of repub- 
lican freedom. Wasliington, Madison, Monroe, 
Adams, Jackson, and Harrison, offered supplications 
to God "to make our country continue the object 
of his divine care and gracious benediction." So 
do the principles of the American party date their 
origin with Luther, and were witnessed in the flames 
which made martjTs of Cranmer and Latimer. 
These principles came to our shores with the Prot- 
estant Huguenots of Florida, who were there nuir- 
dered by the Spanish Inquisition for ' ' seeking free- 
dom to worship God." They afterwards passed 
over with the Mayflower, when the Pilgrims landed 



120 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

on Plymouth Rock. They appeared prominently 
in all the Revolutionary battles ; they were em- 
bodied in the Declaration of Independence, which 
our fathers signed, and then sealed with their blood. 

AVlien it was resolved, in the second session of 
the Continental Congress, 1774, " to open to-morrow 
with prayer at the Carpenters' HaU," Rev. Mr. 
Duche, whom Mr. Adams called the most eloquent 
man in America, made the first prayer, in these 
precise words : 

" Lord, our Heavenly Father, high and mighty 
King of kings and Lord of lords, who dost from thy 
throne behold all the dwellers on earth, and reignest 
with power supreme and uncontrolled over all king- 
doms, empires, and governments, look down in 
mercy, we beseech thee, on these American States, 
who have fled to thee from the rod of the oppressor, 
and thrown themselves on thy gracious protection, 
desiring to be henceforth dependent only on thee. 
To thee have they appealed for the righteousness of 
their cause ; to thee do they now look up for that 
countenance and support which thou alone canst 
give. Take them, therefore, heavenly Father, un- 
der thy nurturing care ; give them wisdom in coun- 
cil, and valor in the field ; defeat the malicious 



EOItlANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 121 

designs of our cruel adversaries ; convince them of 
the unrighteousness of their cause ; and if they will 
still persist in their sanguinary purpose, 0, let the 
voice of thine own unerring justice, sounding in 
their hearts, constrain tlicm to drop the weapons of 
war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle. 
Be thou present, God of wisdom, and direct the 
councils of this honorable assembly ; ena])lo them 
to settle things on the best and surest foundation, 
that the scene of blood may be speedily closed, that 
order, harmony, and peace, may be effectually re- 
stored, and truth and justice, religion and piety, 
prevail and flourish amongst thy people. Preserve 
the health of their bodies and the ^-igor of their 
minds ; shower down on them and the millions they 
here represent such temporal blessings as thou seest 
expedient for them in this world, and crown them 
with everlasting glory in the world to come. All 
this we ask in the name and through the merits of 
Jesus Christ, thy Son and our Saviour. Amen ! " 
- At the close of the Revolution, 2Gth of August, 
1783, Washington's first words, when he appeared 
before Congress, were a grateful acknowledgment to 
God, who had guided the Americans to battle and 
victory. And so he subsequently expressed himself, 
11* 



122 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

wlien. he resigned as commander in chief of the 
army, 23d of December, that same year. Upon 
the memorable event of his inaugural as President 
of the nation, he said : 

" In this first official act, my fervent supplication 
is to that Almighty Being, that his benediction may 
consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the peo- 
ple of the United States a government instituted 
by themselves. No people can be bound to acknowl- 
edge and adore the invisible hand -which conducts 
the affairs of men more than the people of the 
United States ; and the destiny of the republican 
model of government is justly considered as deeply, 
perhaps finally^ staked on the experiment intrusted 
to the hands of the American people." 

"V\^ien the convention sat to frame our constitu- 
tion, and when all the governments of modern Eu- 
rope had been examined \vithout finding one suited 
to the condition of the American people, Dr. Frank- 
lin arose nnd addressed the president upon the im- 
portance of prayer ; that, as " God governs the 
aftairs of men," no blessing could be expected upon 
their deliberations Avithout it ; and fliat tlio consti- 
tution was the result of the infinite wisdom of the 
Almighty, and beyond the powers of any mortal 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 123 

assembly of men, is the indubitable conviction of 
the American people. 

Thirteen years before the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, Pownal, who had been Governor of 
three of the colonies, made this prophecy of 
America's destiny : 

"A nation to whom all nations will come; 
a power whom all powers of Europe will court to 
civil and commercial alliances ; a people to whom 
the remnants of all ruined people will fly ; whom 
the oppressed and injured of every nation will seek 
for refuge," he exclaims, "actuate your sove- 
reignty, EXERCISE the POWERS AND DUTIES OF YOUR 
THRONE." 

And, now, without a monarch, an army, or an 
aristocracy, it will defy every Judas and Cain, 
foreign or native, who interposes between the 
rights, the honor, and the religion, of the American 
branch of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

Our national interest and Christianity are insep- 
araljlc ; and as the people of the land of Bunker 
Hill, who built and paid for their churches, resisted 
the right of a foreign Andros to ring their bells, so 
will Americans, who claim the Protestant as their 
religion, resist the further aggression upon their 



124 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

schools, their property, and their institutions, by the 
political Romanism, of which they justly complain. 
At a recent meeting in Hope Chapel, New York 
city. Dr. 0. A. Brownson, editor of the Bo?nan 
Catholic Review, said : " We Catholics are here a 
missionary people. We are here to Catholicize the 
country. It remains for us Catholics to make it 
morally, intellectually, spiritually great. We are 
here God's chosen instruments for that purpose." 
Mr. McMasters, another jBerce Romish editor, said : 
" Catholics were here not only to contribute to sup- 
port their religion, and thereby their priests, but to 
make the people understand it. If they did not do 
so, they would be wiped out from the land in a sea 
of blood." How are the poor papists to understand 
it, Americans, when the priests keep them in igno- 
rance, by shutting out the light of truth from their 
minds ? The leading French journal of the 3rd of 
April, this year, speaking for the Romish church, 
says : " Railroads are not a progress ; telegraphs are 
an analogous invention ; the freedom of industry is 
not progress ; machines derange all agricultural 
labor ; industrial discoveries are a sign of abase- 
ment, not of grandeur." The following is from 
the Univei'S, their most influential paper in all 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 125 

Europe: — "To make Rome the District of Co- 
lumbia for the whole world, and the Pope the 
interpreter of the constitution of the United 
States." This declaration of the above journal 
expresses, of course, the avowed sentiments of the 
papists now in our republic. 

Is it not time, Americans, to expose this w^orn- 
out foolery, when the great aim of this foreign con- 
cern is to say mass over our nation's soul ? With 
papal baptism, papal matrimony, and papal rulers, 
what is to be the effect on our country, unless Prot- 
estantism counteract such teaching over the minds 
of the papal masses ? 

We have shoAvn, in another chapter, that their 
device of baptism is a most entangling scheme to 
proselyte and extort money, and make its votaries 
slaves. That confession to the priests, in order to 
salvation, is an invasion upon personal liberty, and 
uU sorts of human liberty. That the Church of 
Rome docs interfere with liberty of thought, by 
den}ing the right to read, buy, or circulate books. 
And by its decrees in council it has taken the 
Word of God out of its system, and made it a 
criminal offence for any subject of their church to 
have anything to do with that holy ])ook ! By 



126 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

their Catechism of the Council of Trent, p. 313 
this Romish system says, " Without the presence of 
the parish priest, or some other priest commissioned 
by him,, or by the ordinary, and two or three wit- 
nesses, there can be no marriage.'' They thereby 
declare that none but Catholic priests can perform 
the marriage ceremony. They have made this civil 
rite, then, a sacrament. They can dispense with 
prohibitions, or make them to suit all circumstances ; 
and have, for political purposes, removed the im- 
pediment, and married brothers and sisters ! The 
Church of Rome, therefore, begins with a rite to 
make subjects, at birth ; to secure them througli 
marriage ; to rule them through life ; and by indul- 
gences and absolution in the Confessional to license 
practices of aU iniquity ; and sends them to Para- 
dise, or denies it, in proportion to the amount of 
money paid. 

We contend, as a Protestant people, that no 
power but the Word of God, or argument, and 
human persuasion, can be la\vfully used to influence 
the conscience of any man. The constitution 
regards the religion of men so far as to require 
men to believe in God, and in the existence of 
future punishment and reward. Without this 



ROJLiXISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 127 

belief there is no sanctity to oatlis. But the Eomish 
confessional can absolve oaths, and render any law 
of our country a nullity which is opposed by the 
priest ; and, consequently, the priest wields a secret 
power above our government and the laws of the 
land. There is not a thief, there is not a murderer, 
or a perjurer, or an incendiary, or a traitor, if he is 
a papist, but can go the very next day, or within a 
week, after the committal of the crime, and get 
absolution of the priest. K a papist swears in a 
court of justice on our Protestant Bible, he regards 
it as having no binding force on his conscience. Is 
not, then, the confessional a most dangerous and 
anti-repubUcan power ? The idea that religious 
opinions and secular trusts have no connection, and 
do not interfere with the discharge of public or offi- 
cial duty, has been a sad mistake with Protestants 
long enough ; and to this mistake or en'or the 
rapid advancement of Romanism may partly 1)e 
ascribed. Take marriage as an illustration. Prot- 
estants hold it in the light of a civil contract, of 
divine institution, but not peculiar to any church. 
Catholics make it a sacrament. The people, at 
first, look at this papal rite and obligation as of 
very small consequence, and would not regard it in 
connection with a man's fitness for office, whether 



128 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

connection with a man's fitness for office, whether 
his opinion was for or against it, as a sacrament. 
Bnt, when it is understood that the descendants 
from every Protestant marriage in this country are 
pronounced by that church illegitimate, it becomes 
a matter of immense consequence to look at the 
effect of the system in connection with liberty. 

By a treaty, or concordat, of the French gov- 
ernment and the Pope, Pius YII., under Napoleon 
Bonaparte, in 1802, it was agreed to reestablish the 
cures and sees, under certain conditions. The Pope 
declared himself very grateful, and publicly said 
he owed more to Napoleon than any other, next to 
God. But the laws of the French government in 
regard to marriage were distressing him, and in 
1807 he sent a cardinal from Rome to Paris to 
negotiate the difficulty. Afterwards the discussion 
opened at Rome, when the doctrine that no mar- 
riage was real or valid without the intervention of 
a priest was decided. But, finding the French code 
was extending through Europe, he despatched in- 
structions to his church to counteract the immoral 
doctrine of marriage as a civil right. The accom- 
panying are extracts of the Pope's letter to Poland, 
in 1808, where an attempt was made by law to con 



ROiLVNISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 129 

form to this dogma. " Such a transaction," says 
the Pope (in this letter), " proposed by a Catholic 
prelate to a royal minister, upon a subject so sacred, 
considered in its consequences, in its whole tenor 
leads directly to consequences Avhich sectaries have 
proposed to themselves, namely, to make Catholics 
and l^ishops, and even the Pope liimself, confess 
that the power of governing men is indivisible. 
For a Catholic bishop to acknowl- 
edge 'in Catholic marriages, civil publications, civil 
contracts, civil divorces, civil judgments, is to grant 
the prince power over the sacraments and discipline. 
It is to admit he can alter the forms and the rites ; 
can derogate from the canons ; can violate ecclesias- 
tical liberty ; can trouble conscience ; that he has, 
by consequence, power over things ecclesiastical, 
essentially privileged, and dependent on the power 
of the Keys ; Avhich is as much as to say, he can 
put his hand in the censer, and make his laws pre- 
vail over the laws of the church. The bishop should 
either have dissembled, and tolerated a disorder 
imposed by irresistible force, or he should have 
informed the royal minister that the code, so far 
as respects marriage, cannot be applied to Catholic 
marriages in Catholic countries." 

12 



CHAPTER II. 

Then the Pope goes on to say : " If we 
examine the history of nations, we shall not find 
a Catholic prince suffering to be imposed on his 
subjects the obligation to publish their marfiage, 
or discuss its yaUdity or nullity before a judge 
of the district. If pastoral remonstrances proved 
useless, the bishop should still have continued to 
teach well the flock committed to his care, — 

" 1st. That there is no marriage if it is not con- 
tracted in the form which the church has estab- 
lished to render it valid. 

"2d. That marriage once contracted according 
to its forms, no power on earth can sunder it. 

" 3d. That it remains indissoluble under all acts 
and circumstances. 

"4th. In case of doubtful marriage, the church 
alone decides the validity or invaUdity. 

" 5th. Marriage, without canonical impediment, 
is indissoluble, t67ia(t?i;er impediment the lay power 



RO>LVNISM OrrOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 131 

may impose, icitliout the consent of the Universal 
Church, or of its Supreme Head, the Roman Pon- 

tif- 

"Gtli. That every inarriage contracted, notwith- 
standing a canonical impediment, though abro- 
gated by the sovereign, ought to be holden null 
and of no elTect ; a?id that every Catholic is bound 
in conscience to regard such a marriage as void 
until made valid by a lawful dispensation of the 
church, if, indeed, the impediment which renders it 
null may be removed by a dispensation.'' 

Americans, you all allow that marriage consti- 
tutes and perpetuates society ; that it commends 
itself, as of the first importance, to the civil power. 
Are you willing, then, to surrender duties so 
momentous to the order and peace of families and 
our country, and enacted and sanctioned by our 
legislatures, to foreign priests, or to any priesthood 
whatever ? The Romish system, by the Council 
of Trent, says : " Marriage contracted without the 
solemn forms of the church is void, which this 
council could not have done if it depended on the 
nature of two contracts, which depend on two dis 
tinct powers, — the one, civil, and dependent on 
civil laws ; the other, religious, and dependent 



132 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

on the laws of the church." The belief that it is 
necessary to cjo to the Pope of Rome to get a dispen- 
sation from a canonical impediment, because a man 
regards marriage as a sacrament, and not a civil 
contract, and that his union by the civil law would 
be void, and his children illegitimate, without it, 
is a sufficient cause, we say, to disqualify any 
American from holding a civil trust under our 
Protestant government, and cannot exist without 
affecting his conduct as a public officer, no matter 
what may be said or affirmed to the contrary. The 
system that blesses horses and dogs for money, in 
the name of the Holy Trinity, may well aff'ord to 
curse American Protestant liberty. This law of 
Romish marriage, therefore, is most pernicious and 
anti-republican. 

In 1654, after the final rising of the Council of 
Trent, Pius the Fourth issued a creed, which is 
received universally by the Roman Catholic Church, 
and is by a bull enforced upon the profession of 
every doctor, teacher, and head of a university. 
No election or promotion is valid without it. An- 
other papal law requires the same profession of the 
heads of cathedrals, monastic institutions, and the 
military order, which law directly interferes with 



ROJIANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 133 

t 

liberty. INIilncr, a popish writer, in his " End of 
Controversy," chap, xiv., says : " The same creed, 
namely, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the 
Athanasian Creed, and the Creed of Pope Pius 
IV., DRAWN up in conformity With the Holy Coun- 
cil of Trent, and everywhere recited and pro- 
fessed to the strict letter," &c. In addition to 
a profession of faith, twelve new articles, as for- 
eign to the Christian creed as light from darkness, 
are snhjoined. The following are extracts from 
each of these articles : 

1. "I admit and embrace apostolical and eccle- 
siastical traditions.'' 

2. "I admit the Sacred Scriptures according to 
the sense which the Holy Mother Church held and 
does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true 
sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures ; 
nor will I ever interpret them otherwise than accord- 
ing to the unanimous consent of the fathers."" 

The first binds the soul to pagan traditions ; the 
second, to the impossibility of thinking or acting as 
a responsible being ! 

3. "I profess that they arc truly seven sacra- 
ments, instituted by Jesus Christ, for salvation, 
namely, Z>ajj^/67/2, confirmation, eucharist, penance, 

12* 



134 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

extreme unction, orders, and matrimony ; and that 
they confer grace.'' 

4. ^^ Without the sacrament of baptism, ivhich is 
the sacrament of faith, no one can ever obtain jus- 
tification.'' 

That is, without the priest blesses the soul ! 

5. '■^ That in the mass there is offered to God a 
true, proper, propitiatory sacrifice for the living 
and the dead." 

Every priest by this act is made to offer up a 
sacrifice of our blessed Saviour, directly violating 
that passage which says, " Christ was once offered 
up." If Christ was only once offered up (not by 
the priest, but by himself), how can "he be offered 
up again, and that, too, by a priest ? But this 
" sacrifice of the mass " is not Christianity : it is 
papal mystification and paganism, — an absurdity. 
None but a Catholic priest can ofler up the sacrifice 
of the "mass," and turn a wafer into a God ! ! ! 
Who can think of such blasphemy without a shud- 
der ? But this is not the worst of this turning 
a "wafer" into God. Rome compels physically 
all persons, whoever they be, to bow to, and wor- 
ship, this wafer-God ! ! ! Is not this compulsory 
law anti-republican ? 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 135 

6. This article speaks of Purgatory, — that is, 
a temporary punishment for the faithful on their 
way to heaven. " The souls therein are helped by 
the suffrages of the faithful." Prayers, well paid 
for, are one of the most successful of Rome's 
deceptions to enrich her treasury. The father, for 
the soul of his child or wife, employs the official 
services of the priest, to deliver that soul from the 
horrors of purgatorial torment ! It makes slaves 
of the poor laity, whose hard earnings and scanty 
wages are exacted and given to this end ; while 
the priests extort and secure endowments from the 
deceased wealthy, to save them from punishment ! ! 

We find a church in Venice, in 1743, was in 
arrears for sixteen thousand four hundred masses ; 
and Florentine tells of a Spanish priest who was 
paid for eleven thousand eight hundred masses 
which he never said ! Thus do the priesthood of 
Rome traffic in souls ; cheat the people of liberty ; 
cheat them of their money ; cheat them of their 
hopes ; cheat them of their salvation ! And this 
purgatorial lying, extortion, and compulsion, are 
anti-republican. 

7 and 8. These articles profess belief in the doc- 
trine of heathen worship of saints, and images, and 



136 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

relics, — "the image of Christ, of the Virgin 
Mother of God,'' and of other saints. This belief 
is binding on all. 

This is anti- Christian, and tends to make the peo- 
ple heathenish ; and this pagan ignorance is inimi- 
cal to the whole genius of our republican system. 

9. Professes faith in the poiver of indulgences, 
which directly promotes and gives license for 
crimes. " I also affir?n that the poiver of indulgence 
was left by Christ in the church, and that the use 
of them is most wholesome to a Christian people." 
They are very "wholesome" for the Pope and 
priests to fill their coffers with money, and to mul- 
tiply crimes all over the land. They are sometimes 
called ^"^ bills of exchange on purgatorij.'" 

These indulgences are dispensed by the Pope 
through the priests. They are a bundle of licenses 
to commit all manner of iniquities. There is 
always a great demand for these little packages ; 
and, depending on the foreign will of the Pope, 
they bring a fine price, and give the hierarchy an un- 
bounded power over their people of the whole earth. 

10. " I acknoivledge the Holy Catholic, Apostolic 
Roman Church for the Mother a?id Mistress of all 
churches ; and I promise true obedience to the Bishop 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 137 

of Rome, successor to St. Peter, prince of the Apos- 
tles, Vicar of Christ," " the mistress of all 

CHURCHES." 

Is there anything to surpass this arrogant 
assumption of priestly power, — this direct alle- 
giance to the Pope? What is it but a slavery, 
"which our free spirits should denounce, and at 
which we should revolt ? Is our country safe with 
such a decree ? 

11th. "I likewise, undoubtedly, receive and 
profess all other things, delivered, defined, and 
declared, by the sacred canons of the General Coun- 
cil." This is adopting all i\\Q persecuting, immoral 
legislation of the " Council of Trent," the " worst 
of all." Yet, every priest and every papist in our 
land is bound by oath to receive " all things 
defined, delivered, and declared," by that Council. 
" And I condemn, reject, and anathematize, all 
things contrary thereto, and all heresies which the 
church has condemned, rejected, and anathematized.'' 
Here at one sweep they curse aU heretics, or Prot 
estants, wherever they are found. 

12th. " This true Catholic faith, ivithout tvhich 
no man can be saved, which I at present f reel y prof ess, 
and truly hold, the sane I ivill take care of as far 



138 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

as in iLe lies, and shall be most constantly held and 
confessed by me, whole and unviolatecl, with God's 
assistance, to the last breath of my life ; and by aU. 
my subjects, or these, the care of whom,' in my 
office, belongs to me, shall be held, taught, and 
preached." "I the same, N, projhse, yow, and 

SWEAR, so help ME GOD AND THESE HOLY GOSPELS," 

This is the priest's article especially. He is a slave 
to the Pope, and is himself a parish Pope to the 

PEOPLE. 

Mark this, Americans : the Romish priest swears 
by an oath that there is no salvation to those who 
do not belie Ye this creed ; that is, who do not belie Ye 
in the supremacy of the Pope, indulgences, transub- 
stantiation, purgatory, image worship, saint ivor- 
ship, persecution against Protestants, traditions, &c. 
He swears also to spread these anti-Clmstian and 
persecuting doctrines among those under his care, 
and to do all he can to enforce them, without refer- 
ence to right or liberty, to his life's end ; to sup- 
press freedom of thought and speech, and to make 
subjects for the Pope of Rome ! Now, Protestants, 
all tliis is subYersiYC of our free institutions. If 
the priests and the papists do not oppose, denounce, 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 139 

and persecute to death (whenever they can and 
dare), all Protestants, they swear to a lie. 

We repeat, they are bound, by their oath to the 
Pope of Rome, to receive all the persecuting and 
tyrannical decrees of the general councils of that 
church. We say, they are bound to teach and 
diffuse principles utterly opposed to all the dear and 
cherished rights of American liberty to your chil- 
dren ; and they ought not to be intrusted with the 
education of freemen, if you wish to preserve the 
precious and glorious privileges of our land. The 
whole body of papists, by the creed of Pius IV., 
is fastened and indissolubly bound up with the 
hierarchy of Rome ! And how dangerous and 
inimical is it to the liberties of tliis republic ! 



CHAPTER III. 

We will now give you the precise oath which 
binds every Roman Catholic bishop in the United 
States of America, and in the whole world, to the 
Pope of Rome and his throne. It is taken from 
Barrow's unanswered " Treatise on Supremacy," 
and is a complete feudal oath. Here it is : 

"I, N, elect of the church of N, will hencefor- 
ward be faithful and obedient to St. Peter, the 
Apostle, and to the Holy Roman Church, and to our 
Lord, the Lord N, Pope N, and to his successors 
canonically coming in. I will neither advise, con- 
sent, or do anything, that they may lose life or mem- 
ber, or that their persons may be seized, or hands 
any ivise laid upon them, under any pretence whatever. 
The counsel which they shall intrust me withal, by 
themselves, their messengers, or letters, I will not 
Jinowingly reveal to any to their prejudice. I will 
keep them to defend and keep the holy papacy, and 
the ROYALTIES OF St. Peter, saviug my order, 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 141 

against all men. The legate of the apostolical 
see, going and coming, I will honorably treat, and 
help in his necessities. The rights, honors, 

PRIVILEGES, ^VND AUTHORITY, OF THE HOLY RoMAN 

Church of our Lord the Pope, and his foresaid 
successors, I loill endeavor to preserve, defend, in- 
crease, and advance. I will not be in any council, 
action, or treaty, in which shall be plotted against 
our said Lord, and the Romish church, anything 
to the hurt or prejudice of their persons, right, honor, 
state, or power ; and if I shall know any such thing 
to he treated or agitated by any whatsoever, I ivill 
hinder it to my power, and as soon as I can will 
signify it to our said lord, or to some other, by luhom 
it may come to his hiowledge. 

" The rules of the holy fathers, the apostolic 
decrees, ordinances, or disposals, reservations, provi- 
sions, and mandates, I will observe icith all my 
might, and cause to be observed by others. Here- 
tics, SCHISMATICS, AND REBELS TO OUR SAID LORD, 
OR HIS FORESAID SUCCESSORS, I WILL TO MY POWER 
PERSECUTE AND OPPOSE. I will COmO to a COUHCil 

wdien I am called, unless I am hindered by a 
canonical impediment. I will by myself in person 

VISIT THE threshold OF THE APOSTLES EVERY THREE 
13 



142 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

YEARS, AND GIVE AN ACCOUNT TO OUR LORD AND HIS 
FORESAID SUCCESSORS OF ALL MY PASTORAL OFFICE, 

and of all things any wise belonging to the state of 
my church, to the discipline of my clergy and people y 
and, lastly, of the salvation of souls committed to my 
trust ; and icill, in like manner, humbly receive and 
diligently execute the apostolic commands. 

" And if I be detained by a lawful impediment, I 
will perform all things aforesaid by a certain messen- 
ger, hereto especially empowered a member of my chap- 
ter, or some other in ecclesiastical dignity, or else 
having a parsonage ; or, in default of these, by a 
priest of the diocese ; or, in default of one of the 
clergy {of the diocese), by some other secular or regu- 
lar priest, of improved integrity and religion, fully 
instructed in all things above mentioned. And such 
impedime7it I ivill make out by lawful proofs, to he 
transmitted by the aforesaid messenger to the Cardi- 
nal proponent of the Holy Roman Church, in the 
congregation of the sacred council. 

" The possessions belonging to my table I will nei- 
ther sell, nor give away, nor mortgage, nor grant anew 
in fee, nor any icise alienate, — no, not even icith the 
consent of the chapter of my church, — without con- 
sulting the Roman Pontiff. And if I shall make any 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 143 

alienation, I will thoreby incur the penalties con- 
tained in a certain constitution put forth about this 
matter. So help me God, and these Holy Gos- 
pels." 

Such is that servile and persecuting oath. This 
doctrine of the supremacy of the Pope and the 
priesthood makes bond-slaves of all people who be- 
long to them. It makes a God on earth of the Pope 
at Rome. lie is an ambitious tyrant over the priest- 
hood, and the priests are tyrants over the people. 

No man can. take this oath to the Pope, and be 
^faithful or true citizen of the United States, or a 
safe and consistent citizen of any country. No 
Catholic bishop, then, is an honest citizen of the 
United States ; if he were, he would be a perjurer. 
In another chapter, we have shown, in the memo- 
rable contest between the Pope and the republic 
of Venice, that the Jesuits all turned traitors, and 
fied from Venice, and went over to the Pope ! The 
Jesuits, who are the Pope's greatest propagandists, 
never did, according to all history and the authority 
of the French Parliament, dwell in any country, 
without destroying its liberties and its morals. The 
foreign hierarchy who control the Roman Catholic 
church in the United States to-day are Jesuits, 



144 ROJIANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

from the leading bishops spread over the states, to 
the Irish priest who came by the last emigrant 
arrival. 

It is in accordance with the American principle 
to examine eyerything presented to us. \ye are 
carrying forward the glorious emancipation Luther 
began. The liberty, civil and religious, we so 
earnestly cherish and develop, is Bible liberty, 
and its home is on American ground. "Without note 
or comment, we send that blessed book abroad over 
the world, the emblem of this ennobling, sublime 
liberty, and the guardian evidence to all who breathe 
American air to stand erect as freemen, and to 
bow, unmolested by papal curses and bulls, in the 
worship of our God. This blessed volume has been 
translated into more than one hundred and sixty 
languages of the earth ; and, without the cost of 
a single mass or prayer for a soul in purgatory, it 
is, through American means and Protestant teach- 
ing, enlightening, and comforting, and instructing, 
millions of the human family. 

Two years ago, there was a consecration in St. 
Patrick's Cathedral, New York, of Bishops Bailey, 
McLaughlin, and Dr. Goesbriand, by the papal Nun- 
cio, Monsignor Bedini. The Jesuits then took that 



EOMAXISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 145 

oath in Latin, as we have given it in correct Eng- 
lish ; hut the priests puhlishecl a version in English, 
for i\\Q newspapers, and little pamphlets contain- 
ing an account of the ceremonies ; one of which 
pamphlets is now hefore us, and it contains a com- 
plete and \^i\h\\ forgery . It omitted all the perse- 
cuting and political part, which the oath we give 
contains, and which is the exact one used here and 
at Rome this very day. They always deny this 
gross deception to Americans, and three fourths of 
the American Roman Catholic laity also deny it 
Why ? Because these Jesuits find it expedient to 
cheat and deceive Protestants and their own papist 
subjects in this ximerican land. 

Cruelty is a central principle in the Church of 
Rome, and, therefore, anti-republican. It is very 
common, at present, with Roman Cathohcs, to deny 
that their church approves religious persecution , 
and in this assertion they are backed up by ignorant 
or designing Protestants, for political purposes 
solely. But there is no fact more clearly proved, 
both by history and the dogmas of their church 
everywhere contained in their canons and bulls, and 
carried out in practice to the present day. The 
prisons of Rome, and all the Italian prisons under 
13* 



146 ROJ^IANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES- 

tlie influence of the Pope, are, at this moment, 
filled with victims groaning under these horrid 
cruelties. The Inquisition, in some form, and every 
priest and his devotees, are agents to execute this 
intolerance. 

The commentary of Menochius, which is a text- 
book at all Catholic colleges and seminaries of 
learning, declares, in connection with the parable 
of the wheat and the tares, that the Saviour " does 
not forbid heretics (or Protestants) to be taken away 
and put to death," and refers to jMeldonatus on this 
special article of their belief. And these are the 
words of the authority alluded to: "They who 
deny that heretics are to be put to death ought 
much rather to deny that thieves, much rather that 
murderers, ought to be put to death ; for heretics 
are the more pernicious than thieves or murderers, 
as it is a greater crime to steal and slay the souls 
of men than their bodies." 

Bellarmine, the papal authority constantly ap- 
pealed to, says : " Experience teaches us that there 
is no other remedy (than death) ; for the church has 
advanced by degrees, and tried every remedy. At 
nrst she only excovimimicated, then fined, then exiled ; 
at last she was compelled to have recourse to death. 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 147 

***** If you throw them (Protestants) into 
prison, or send them into exile, they corrupt their 
neighbors by their language^ and those who are at a 
distance by their books ; therefore, the only remedy 
is, to send them speedily to their proper place." 

The following is the curse of Pope Benedict 
VIII. : 

" May they suffer the curse of God and of the 
world ; may they suffer it in their body, may their 
mind become stupefied, may they meet with aU 
bodily pains, and end in perdition. 

"May they be damned with the cursed ones, 
and perish with the wicked. 

" May they be cursed with the Jews, who did 
not believe in our Lord, and crucified him. 

*' May they be cursed with the heretics, Prot- 
estants, who attempt to overthrow the Holy Mother 
Church, 

" May they be damned in the four parts of the 
world : cursed in the east, abandoned in the west, 
interdicted in the north, excommunicated in the 
south. 

" May they be cursed in the day, excommuni- 
cated in the night. 



148 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

" May they be clamned in heaven, on earth, and 
in the regions below." 

Says the historian Bruys : " Secular powers, 
if need be, may be compelled by church censures 
to destroy all heretics (Protestants) marked by the 
church, out of the lands of their jurisdiction.'' 
— Labb., Tom. 13, p. 934. Bruys' Hist, of the 
Papacy, Tom. iii., p. 148. 

The Council of Constance, 1414, in which Pope 
Martin presided, not only condemned and burned 
alive Huss and Jerome of Prague, but issued their 
terrific anathema against the millions of heretics 
all over Europe, and commanded all kings, emj)er- 
ors, and princes, forthwith to exterminate by fire 
and sword. 

This dogma of persecution is introduced into the 
class-book at Maynooth Jesuit College, for which 
England contributes annually thirty thousand 
pounds sterling. — See Delahogue's Tract. Theolog., 
cap. 8. De Membris, p. 404, Dublin edit., 1795. 

The oath which every Roman bishop swears 
contains this central principle of persecution. 

The following propositions are taken from Dr. 
Den's System of Theology, a text-book for every 
papal theological seminary in the land : 



ROiLlNISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 149 

Isfc. "Protestants are heretics, and as such are 
worse than Jews and Pagans." 

2d. " They are, by baptism and blood, under the 
power of the Roman Catholic Church." 

od. " So far from granting toleration to Protest- 
ants, it is the duty of the church to exterminate 
the rites of their religion." 

4th. "It is the duty of the Roman Catholic 
Church to compel heretics to submit to her faith." 

5th. ' ' That the punishments decreed by the 
Roman Catholic Church are confiscation of goods, 
exile, imprisonment, and death." 

A converted Popish priest, in a late work, says : 

" During the last three years I discharged the 
duty of a Romish clergyman, my heart often shud- 
dered at the idea of entering the confessional. The 
recitals of the murderous acts I had often heard 
through tliis iniquitous tribunal had cost me many 
a restless night, and are still fixed with horror upon 
my memory. But the most awful of all considera- 
tions is this, — that through the confessional I have 
been frequmthj apprised of intended assassinations, 
and most diabolical conspiracies ; and, still, from 
the ungodly injunctions of secrecy in the Romish 
creed, lest, as Peter Dens says, ' the confessional 



150 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

sliould become odious,' I dared not give the slight- 
est intimation to the marked- out victims of 
slaughter." 

Pope Urban II. says : 

"We do not consider those as homicides ayIio, 
burning with zeal for the Catholic church against 
excommunicated persons, happen to have killed any 
of them." 

Pope Sixtus v., in a public address, applauded 
the assassination of Henry III.^ of France. 

The Rhemish translators of the New Testament, 
on Rev. 17 : 6, " Drunken with the blood of the 
saints," say : 

"Protestants foolishly expound it of Rome, for 
that they put heretics to death, and allow of their 
punishment in other countries ; but their blood is 
not called the blood of saints no more than the 
blood of thieves, man-killers, and other malefactors, 
for the shedding of which, by order of justice, no 
commonwealth shall answer." 

Bellarmine and Maldonatus, two of the highest 
authorities at Maynooth, teach the same doctrines. 
The proceedings at Rome in regard to the massacre 
of St. Bartholomew prove that Rome would have 
equally gloated over the Gunpowder Plot, if it had 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 151 

only been successful. She has never clisavoAvcd 
any of her atrocious principles, whilst the recent 
avowals of Dr. Cahill, the Rambler,, and the Shep- 
herd of the Valley, demonstrate that modern Papists 
are quite as bloodthirsty as their ancestors. 

" The Inquisition was first established at Tou- 
louse, in 1233. It subsequently spread in Spain, 
Portugal, and other countries, increasing in power" 
and cruelty. The managers of the inquisitional 
courts were men of low origin and brutal nature, 
who had unlimited power from the Pope to put to 
death any person suspected of heresy ; and heresy, 
in the Church of Rome, means nothing but opposing 
the pretensions of the Papacy. Under the tryanni- 
cal sway of the Inquisition, parents were required 
to stifle all their natural affections, and children 
forgot their reverence, gratitude, and love. The 
immense power of the Inquisitor General we refer 
to. Among other practices of the Inquisition, it 
was common for persons to be seized and murdered 
in order to get possession of their property. It 
was in vain to search the world for an institution 
to compare with this in atrocity and merciless bar- 
barity. ' Deliver yourself up a prisoner to the 
Inquisition,' filled the soul with horror, and made 



152 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

the frame motionless, for it was the prekide to the 
dungeon and death. The infamous practices of 
the incjuisitional courts were made up of cruelty, 
blood, death ! 

' ' Romanism has not changed by the light and 
progress of civilization. In 1825, under Pope 
Leo XII., the work of the Inquisition was recom- 
menced with great vigor. It was as dark, baneful, 
and bloody, as ever. From that period until the 
late revolution in Italy, scenes of horror transpired, 
the details of which are known only to their atro- 
cious authors. In 1849, the Constituent Assembly 
determined that the tribunal should be abolished, 
and the building appropriated to some military 
purpose. In the buildings were the bones of human 
beings without number, thrown together in a man- 
ner to shock the feelings. There are to-day a 
thousand patriots suffering, in gloomy and filthy 
dungeons, all the horrors that the victims of the 
Inquisition endured. The truth is, that the spirit 
of deadly persecution is inherent in Romanism. 
It is one of its vital forces. "While Romanism 
prides itself upon its immovability, progress is an 
integral part of Protestantism ; and its onward 
march, however slow, is steady and direct." 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 153 

To those who think that this spirit of intolerance 
is relaxed in our day, either in the United States 
or in other lands, we could present a volume of 
convincing and overwhelming facts to prove the 
contrary. But the following specimens will be 
sufficient : 

A few years ago, a Protestant minister in the 
West, after preaching to his own congregation on 
the subject of Popery, was met by the priest of the 
town at the church door, and told by him that, 
''were it not for the laws of the country, he would 
cut his throat." "Yes," said the minister, "I 
know that already." 

The Rev. Mr. Nast, of Cincinnati, who has been 
instrumental in the conversion of many Grerman 
papists, by preaching, lecturing, and publishing a 
German paper, received a letter a few months 
since, stating that if he did not stop his efforts, , 
they would do with their fists what their priests 
cannot do with their pens, " knock your eyes out.'' 

An Episcopal clergyman in the West stated that 
a member of his church married a Roman Catholic 
lady, who, by his influence, was converted to the 
Protestant faith. The father of the young lady 
called to inquire if it was so. "Yes," said the 
14 



154 ROIklANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

daughter, " it is." On leaving the house, he said 
to his son-in-law, "Sir, I will never be satisfied 
till I have washed my hands in your heart's blood." 

AVho was it, a few years since, that drove six 
hundred families from the Austrian empire into 
the Prussian territory, because they would not 
renounce the reformed religion? It was popish 
priests. 

Who was it that drove the Rev. Mr. Eule from 
Cadiz? Papal authorities, directed to do so by 
the archbishop of the see. 

Who flogged a man nearly to death for renounc- 
ing Popery, in the State of Pennsylvania ? It was 
a popish priest. In the neighborhood of Doyles- 
town, a German Catholic attended a funeral sermon 
of a Protestant minister, after which a priest called 
and asked him if he had become a Protestant. 
"If you have," said he, "you have committed a 
mortal sin; confess your sin to me." " I have 
confessed my sin to Christ," said the sick man, 
" and obtained absolution." The priest urged him 
with increasing warmth to confess ; he declined. 
The priest then seized a chair, jumped on the bed, 
and pounded him with it till he broke it in pieces ; 
he then took from his pocket a raw-hide, and began 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 155 

to scourge .him, to compel him to confess. A 
stranger, passing by, hearing the noise, entered 
the house, and, finding the priest in the act of 
scourging the sick man, he seized him by the collar, 
and dragged him down stairs. Soon after, the 
man died. The priest was arrested and tried in 
Doylestown court-house, and fined fifty dollars and 
costs, and left the country. 

Who was it that threatened the city of Boston ? 
It was the lady superior of the convent, Avho, after 
that unclean and anti-republican cage had been 
attacked by rioters, said : " The bishop has more 
than twenty thousand Irishmen at his command, 
who will tear your houses over your heads, and you 
may read your riot-acts till your throats are sore ! " 
We condemn the riot, but did that justify this 
diabolical and bloody threat of this female Jesuit ? 

Who was it that persecuted recently four hun- 
dred Madeira Protestants, and forced them to flee 
from their native country? The priests of the 
island. 

A convert to Protestantism, travelling along the 
road leading to Scarift; Ireland, in the county of 
Clare, w^as accosted by some laborers in the field. 
After threatening him several times, they at length 



156 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

suffered him to pass, saying, " If you dare to come 
this way again, you bloody Sassenah rascal, we '11 
blow your brains out ! " — Limerick Standard. 

A savage-looking ruffian violently attacked the 
Rev. Mr. Marks, a Protestant clergyman, late of 
the Molyneux Asylum, in the public streets of 
Dublin, and, without provocation, knocked the 
reverend gentleman down. What next ? — Warder. 

On the evening of Wednesday last, loth inst., 
as John Honner, a respectable Protestant, was re- 
turning home from the Macroon Sessions, he was 
savagely assaulted midway between Castletown and 
Enniskeane, by some person at present unknown ; 
no less than sixteen wounds having been inflicted 
on his head and face, besides several others on his 
body and limbs ; his skull was severely fractured. 
— Cork Standard. 

The names of nearly one hundred persecuted 
Protestant clergymen are given in the Tipperary 
Constitution. The manner in which they were 
treated is thus marked : stoned to death ; mur- 
dered ; stoned ; fired at ; dangerously assaulted ; 
abused and persecuted ; plundered ; interrupted 
and assaulted in the performance of duty ; . house 



KOMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 157 

attacked, demolished, or burned down ; driven 
from his home, or his country. 

Some time ago, M. Maurette, a French Roman 
priest, was brought to the knowle'dge of the truth 
as it is in Jesus, and, in consequence, abandoned 
the pale of the idolatrous and apostate church in 
which he had been brought up. Having convinced 
himself of the danger of continuing in Babylon, he 
wished to induce as many as possible of his coun- 
trymen to flee out of her infected communion. 
With this view, he published a statement of the 
reasons that had led him to adopt the Protestant 
faith, and plainly and forcibly exposed the super- 
stition of Rome, by the usual arguments employed 
by the divines of the French Protestant church. 
For this he was condemned, on the 17th of May, 
1844, by the Court of Assizes of L'Ariege, to a 
year's imprisonment, and a fine of six hundred 
francs ! 

You have all heard of the brutish papal persecu- 
tions at Damascus, where two or three of the un- 
protected sons of Abraham were recently flogged, 
soaked in large vessels of water, their eyes pressed 
out of their sockets with a machine, dragged about 
by the ears till the blood gushed out, thorns driven 
14* 



158 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

in between the nails and flesh of their fingers and 
toes, and candles put under their noses, burning 
their nostrils. This is Popery ! After hearing of 
this act of persecution, and hundreds of others 
constantly taking place in papal countries, and our 
own country, who will believe that this unchange- 
able church has changed her system of butchery ? 
What she has been she is now ; and you, my Prot- 
estant brethren, would feel it if she had the power. 
Now, with the fact of the presence of this mighty 
enemy in our beloved land, what more astonishing 
than the apathy and blindness of our statesmen, 
and the slumbering security in which our patriotic 
citizens, to W'hom liberty is so sweet and dear, fold 
their arms, and never dream of papal danger? 
Do they imagine that our country is too great, our 
resources too vast, our numbers too overwhelming, 
to feel the slightest apprehension on this subject ? 
What was it but a spark that kindled up the con- 
flagration of Rome, and that was to blow up the 
Parliament of England ? What was it but a Guy 
Fawkes, employed by the Jesuit priests to make 
that fatal arrangement, to overturn Protestantism 
in England ? What was it but one gilded bauble 
from the Pope that corrupted the royal monarch, 



ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 159 

Henry II., to submit himself and kingdom to the 
dictation of the Vatican ? What is it but Pusey- 
ism, now in the hands of the subtle and scheming 
Nuncio of Rome, aided by the University of Oxford, 
and the crafty spies and emissaries of Rome, that 
is undermining the foundation of Protestantism, and 
shaking the fancied stability of the throne of the 
Stuarts, in that land of the early Reformation, and 
heroic defenders of the bulwarks of liberty ? 

Do our listless Galbas imagine that the two 
thousand papal bishops, priests, and Jesuits, with 
their millions of obedient subjects, and multitudes 
of endowed nunneries, seminaries, and colleges, 
planted over our land like so many batteries, with 
their guns and ammunition ready for action, are 
sent here and put in operation merely for the idle 
amusement of that foreign potentate ? Is the prize 
less tempting, by its surpassing beauty and mag- 
nificence, than other territories and states, at which 
its policy has been directed, and over which its 
skilful and deep-laid plots have triumphed ? There 
are but a few of our people, comparatively, who 
are aware of the secret and mighty springs which 
are at work in the wheels within the wheels of this 
spiritual and political machine. Its central power 



160 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 

is at Rome ; but its army of chameleon and vigi- 
lant spies are everywhere. Our people may despise 
its intrigues, and laugh at the warnings of more 
reflecting patriots, who stand like sentinels on the 
watch-towers of liberty ; but so reasoned the inhab- 
itants of Troy, when the treacherous wooden horse 
entered within its gates and took the city. 




L 



vc^Vvv^ 5^-^oq\V3 



HOxN. ERASTUS EROOKS. 



Erastus Brooks was born in Portland, Maine, January 
31, 1815. His mother descended from a family for many 
generations belonging to New England, and noted for their 
active participation in our Revolutionary battles. His father, 
also, rendered efficient service in the ocean scenes of the 
war of 1812-15. He was the brave, skilful, and success- 
ful commander of the " Yankee ; " and was lost at sea near 
the close of the year 1814, while in the public service. Mr. 
Brooks' mother was left without the aid of fortune. Her 
son was obliged, therefore, when a boy of only eight 
years of age, to begin to make his own way in the world. 
When just large enough to run upon errands, but with the 
spirit of a man in his child's heart, he directed his course to 
Boston, and there entered a store, and weighed out sugar 
and tea and coffee for the customers of his employer. He 
next sought independence by a trade of his own, and en- 
deavored to obtain the rudiments of an education by attend- 
ing an evening school. The subject of our sketch, who is 
now eminent as an editor of marked ability, commenced his 
printer's career as the "Printer's Devil," and arose gradu- 
ally to the position of printer, publisher, and proprietor of 
a paper, at Wiscasset, Maine, which bore, in honor of his 
father's sea efforts, the significant title of " The Yankee." 
Here his habits of industry were displayed in a manner that 



1G2 HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 

won for him the respect and admiration of all who witnessed 
his career. He set the types of his paper, worked the press 
with his own hands, by the aid of a boy, and distributed the 
copies amoug the subscribers himself, at day dawn ! All 
the work in and out of doors Avas performed without any 
other assistance than that of a small boy hired for the pur- 
pose, — as a "roller-boy,*" &c. Young Brooks, now be- 
comino; more ambitious, thouo-ht he could edit as well as 
print a paper; and without the usual manuscript before him, 
he composed as he worked, setting in type his own editorials, 
and many miscellaneous articles and stories. These first 
lessons in the editorial profession made it apparent that he 
needed a better education than he had thus far acquired ; 
and, without consideriniz; the hard struo;o;le he would be 
obliged to make, with his extremely limited means, he at 
once resolved to possess a knowledge of books as well as men. 
Without any pecuniary assistance from others, he com- 
menced to prepare himself for college at "Waterville, Maine. 
He studied the " Liber Primus," Sallust, the Greek Gram- 
mar, kc, aided in these exercises by a few friends who were 
students at the college, and by resident gentlemen who felt 
an interest in one so well worthy of their friendship. His 
plans were now somewhat altered. He taught school one 
half of his time, to pay the expenses incidental upon his own 
education. His board he paid by setting types in a print- 
ing-office. By the greatest diligence in the pursuit of his 
studies, Mr. Brooks was soon qualified to enter Brown 
University, at Providence, Rhode Island. He passed through 
the sophomore and junior classes, took rank with the lat- 
ter, and was equal in point of attainments to those who had 
jeached the senior class ; but that stern necessity, which 
had so oppressed him previously, again interposed a barrier 
to his onward course. With others partially dependent upon 



HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 103 

him, and no moneyed means of his own, he was obliged to 
relinquish his scholastic designs : but, like a philosopher, 
he submitted Avith a good grace to this second disappoint- 
ment, and returned cheerfully and happily to his types in 
the printing-office, and his school-teaching. Soon after this, 
the committee of Haverhill, Mass., pronounced him to be 
competent to conduct one of the old-fashioned "Grammar 
Schools" of the state; -which was a compliment well de- 
served by Mr. Brooks, and proved highly gratifying to him. 
The happiest day of his life, he has often said, was when he 
passed muster as a school-teacher in the State of Maine, 
where he was born. Before Maine became a state, he was 
pronounced entitled to four hundred and eighty dollars a 
year, as the per annum pay of one who was compelled to 
teach boys and girls at least eight hours a day. 

His taste for literary pursuits still governing him in the 
choice of a profession, Mr. Brooks became the editor and 
part owner of the Haverhill Gazette. This position he 
relinquished in 1836, and repaired to Washington, D. C, 
and became the correspondent of the New York Daily Ad- 
vertiser, afterwards merged in the New York Express, 
and of several New England papers. While in this ca- 
pacity, Mr. Brooks had ample opportunity for the study of 
men and events ; and, with his usual diligence, he employed 
all his spare time in the investigation of all the prominent 
measures of the day, and the political history of the country. 
While at Washington, he enjoyed the personal confidence of 
such men as Clay, Webster, Adams, and Fillmore, and 
Avith them he both sympathized and acted, politically. At 
this time Mr. Brooks obtained an interest in the New York 
Express, which had started in July, 1836, in behalf of 
Gen. Harrison, and is continued up to the present time, Mr. 
Brooks continuing as one of its editors and proprietors. This 



164 HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 

excellent newspaper is now in a most prosjjerous condition 
and is the principal organ, in the State of New York, of the 
American party. For sixteen consecutive sessions of Con- 
gress. Mr. Brooks remained in Washington, conducting his 
paper there, in part, as the Washington editor. 

In 1843, Mr. Brooks visited Europe, and travelled as far 
north as Norway, and as far south as Naples and the Lower 
Danube. In fact, he passed over Europe generally, and 
penetrated to the heart of Russia. His letters from Europe 
over the signature of " E. B." are remembered as affordinfr, 
perhaps, the most graphic account ever written by an Ameri- 
can traveller of scenes and incidents in the Old World. 

In 1853, Mr. Brooks was elected to the Senate of the 
State of New York, by a plurality vote, and distinguished 
himself by his unequalled energy, and his attention to all the 
wants of his constituency, and also by his able advocacy of 
the " Church Property Bill," which was intended to secure 
to the American Catholics a more equitable disposition of 
their church property, by transferring it from the hands of 
the bishops individually, to those of the lay trustees, whose 
province it properly is to manage the temporal concerns of 
the congregations. The wise provisions of this celebrated 
bill were heartily approved of by the trustees of the Cath- 
olic Church of St. Louis, at Buffalo, N. Y. Indeed, none 
felt aggrieved at the passage of this salutary law, but the 
bishops, who wished to hold and possess in their individual 
right all the property belonging to their congregations. 
The great danger of a perversion of so great a trust and 
power by any one man so circumstanced, must be acknowl- 
edged by all rational men. Of course, the bishops were 
enraged against those who had participated in the enactment 
of a law which took from their possession millions of dollars, 
and Archbishop Hughes, of New York, testified his anger by 



HON. EKASTUS BROOKS. 165 

the publication of a spiteful letter, in Avliich he charged the 
Hon. Erastus Brooks with the utterance of a falsehdod con- 
cerning the amount of property held by him (Archbishop 
Hughes). This commenced a controversy, Avith which the 
"U'orld is now acquainted. On the part of Archbishop 
Hughes, it was conducted with the view solely to bear down, 
by the weight of his own great name, and by the force of 
hard charges, false accusations, and browbeating, the Ameri- 
can senator Avho had dared to do right, and confront, in the 
act of doing so, the powerful Archbishop of New York. 
Hoping to crush out of sight and out of mind the ugly facts 
which the honorable senator had dragged into the light of 
day, and appearing to believe that he could frighten the 
senator from his position, the archbishop threw, with a 
desperate energy, all the weight of his position, his power, 
and his pen, into the controversy. But he had a man to 
deal with who was schooled in the republican belief, and in 
the Protestant faith ; one who feared no man, and one, too, 
who, as a polemical writer, was the archbishop's superior, 
— superior, because honest, truthful, and straightforward. 

That ]\Ir. Brooks proved the victor in this renowned con- 
troversy, was, at its close, conceded by the press and the 
people throughout this country and Europe. Here is the 
principle involved : The Pope of Rome is the supreme head 
and front of the Romish church, throuii-hout the world ; 
his bishops in America are his personal agents ; these agents, 
acting by his orders, held in their hands, for the Pope, mil- 
lions of dollars' worth of property ; so that the Pope of 
Rome was the director and controller of these millions, for 
good or evil, in the United States. Now, we, as an indi- 
vidual and distinct nation, could not with safety allow the 
temporal and spiritual monarch of a foreign country to 
wield, through his agents in this country, a power great 
15 



166 HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 

enough to control our elections. Therefore, and because it 
was anti-republican in every respect, our faithful, fearless, 
and honest legislator, Hon. Erastus Brooks, wrested this 
fearful power out of the hands of the Pope of Rome, by 
wresting it from the hands of Archbishop Hughes, that mon- 
arch's agent in New York. This is the true issue, in a few 
words. It is difficult to realize the weight of obligation 
under which, as a people, we labor, to Mr. Brooks, for 
the incalculable services he has rendered us in freeing us 
from the terrible power of that immense amount of wealth, 
which could have been used in the formation of armies of 
foreigners in our midst ; Avhich could have been employed in 
the perversion of the legitimate purposes of the ballot-box ; 
which could have bought up thousands of those corrupt 
demaeoo'ues with whom all countries are cursed. Indeed, 
there is no end to the evil uses to which money may be ap- 
plied, in the hands of individual men, who are better poli- 
ticians than priests, better temporal commanders than 
spiritual advisers. But this important event in the history 
of our state and nation is well understood, and we have only 
dwelt upon it at this point, in our brief biography of Mr. 
Brooks, because it merits, whenever mentioned, more than 
ordinary attention. 

The controversy ended, and the archbishop, completely 
foiled, concluded that the next best thing to be done was to 
defeat Mr. Brooks, who was now renominated for the senator- 
ship of his district. Accordingly, a Roman Catholic was 
nominated by the Hughes party to oppose Mr. Brooks, and 
every scheme and device that the Jesuits and their coadju- 
tors could bring to bear upon the election were used, without 
a thought of their character, and with a total disregard as to 
the cost they imposed. But the people, who had sanctioned 
the acts of Mr. Brooks, and gloried in the defeat of a cor- 



HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 1G7 

nipt priesthood, sustained the champion of their rights by 
returnins; him to the senate chamber of the State of New 
York, — Avhence his priestly antagonist had endeavored to 
exclude him, — by a majority of over four thousand, and 
an increased vote of seven thousand over his first election. 
More than a thousand of the most prominent citizens of New 
York, of all ranks and professions, united in the request to 
have Mr. Brooks continue to represent them ; because no 
servant of the public had ever shown more deference to the 
will of his constituents, or been more indefatigable in his 
efforts to advance the moral, social, commercial, mechanical, 
and industrial interests of that city. Mr. Brooks is now 
the nominee of the American party for the governorship of 
the State of New York, having received in convention the 
unanimous vote, by acclamation, of eleven hundred and 
sixty-nine delegates, who met in Rochester as a nomi- 
nating convention, on the 24th of September last, and who 
arose to their feet as one man, and shouted the name of 
Erastus Brooks, — a thing unheard of in the political history 
of the state or country. 

This brief sketch of Erastus Brooks may serve to emu- 
late American youth, and teach them that the only true way 
to reach preferment, under our republican institutions, is by 
pursuing a course of moral rectitude, energy, and industry, 
in whatever sphere of duty they may be engaged. By just 
such a course Mr. Brooks has arisen, in rapid gradations, from 
the errand-boy of Boston to the senatorship of his adopted 
state, where he has represented about three hundred thou- 
sand people. During the present political campaign, Mr. 
Brooks has exhibited that untiring industry and energy for 
which he is remarkable. In addition to his editorial duties, 
he has spoken at almost every important town in the State 
of New York, and in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and in 



168 HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 

four of the New England States. Nor has he ever failed to 
respond, promptly and cheerfully, to the calls of the Ameri- 
cans of other states ; but is ever ready to labor in the cause 
of his country, and of the Union and its supporters, Millard 
Fillmore and Andrew Jackson Donelson, for whose nomina- 
tion he labored in the National Convention, as one of the 
delegates at large from the Empire State. He never spares 
himself, night or day, when he has a duty to perform, and 
it excites the wonder of all to behold the work he does with 
the rather delicate frame he has ; but there is an iron will, 
an indomitable spirit, and a valiant heart within, that sustain 
him through all. 

We leave him at this period of his history, as the nominee 
of the American people, and of all Protestants^ for the gov- 
ernorship of the State of New York. We leave him as the 
tried and true man, in the hands of those who know how to 
appreciate and reward the truly meritorious. 



I 





AutKor of theAlsolii 



< 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 

It was our fatliers' wisli to keep the administra- 
tion of this government in an American sphere. 
They wanted no colonial or territorial dependence. 
They wanted to maintain the Union, and therefore 
asserted the right of the American people to the 
exclusive control of their own matters. They said, 
in the constitution they left us, that Congress could 
sell the public lands, that it could admit new 
states, but not a word was mentioned about organiz- 
ing any government without the rights of a state. 

Under this constitution we Americans have sig- 
nally prospered, while our influence has exerted a 
mighty power over all the civilized states of the 
world. There is not a nation with which we have 
not a commercial and political relation. There is 
not a country in which our enterprise has not 

15* 



170 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

entered, nor an ocean on wliich our ships do not 
float. American genius is more or less impressed 
upon every people and clime, and mutual interest 
and sympathy bind us to mankind. We have no 
need now, Americans, to fear to assume the prin- 
ciples whicii have guided us thus triumphantly ; 
nor can "we limit those principles within our own 
borders. Our example, our ideas, our discoveries, 
our inventions, our habits of life, our social, politi- 
cal, and religious institutions, must ultimately ex- 
tend our form of government. And to see our 
maxims securely applied to other people ; to see 
our laws, the settled principles of equality and 
justice, administered throughout Christendom ; to 
see our industry and enterprise exacting equality 
everywhere, could not but create an honest exulta- 
tion within the breast of every true American. 

We, then, my countrpnen, have a mission to 
perform, out of our country ; we have to throw 
our weight, in behalf of equality and justice, over 
the countries of the world, and to guard with a 
vigihmt eye the principles of Protestantism and 
Americanism, that our own strength shall increase, 
our own resources expand, and an additional im- 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 171 

petus be given to our moral, commercial, and polit- 
ical greatness. 

On the 1st of July, 1823, Central America 
formed a federal republic, called the " United 
Provinces of Central America," doubtless designed 
to accord with our system of government, and 
adopting our constitution as its guide. The suc- 
ceeding year, they emancipated all the slaves in 
the republic, amounting to about one thousand, 
and indemnified the owners for the pecuniary loss. 
The constitution of this republic was ratified in 
November of that year, and the first federal con- 
gress was convened the 1st of September, 1825. 
But this union did not bind the states together 
like those of the United States of North America. 
It did not prevent the effusion of blood. And their 
constitution was but " a passive instrument, power- 
less for good, and only active for unimportant or 
pernicious purposes. ' ' The unchecked force of num- 
bers, influenced by bad, designing men, soon anni- 
hilated the union, by making the small states 
tributary to the larger ; a fate, Americans, we shall 
surely feel, if ever our own beloved Union shall be 
cursed by separation. 

On the 20th of July, 1838, in the thirteenth 



172 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

year of the Central American republic, Congress 
met for the last time under the constitution, and 
the states returned to their former political system. 
In 1840, General Francisco Morazan, " the "Wash- 
ington of Central America," made an effort to 
restore the union of these states ; but the Jesuit 
priesthood united with the Indians, under Carrera, 
in opposing the liberties of the people, and expelled 
the ' ' father of his country ' ' from his native soil. 
Morazan subsequently returned, in 1842, to Costa 
Rica, where he was murdered ; and this consum- 
mated the destruction of that unfortunate republic 
in Central America. And, Americans, mark the 
fate of that country, and you will see, in its feeble- 
ness, suffering, and horror, but a fiiint picture of 
what these United States will encounter, if ever 
the traitors within our borders shall sever the bonds 
which now hold us as one people. 

A light from heaven has now guided a son of our 
American republic, to open the way for the beauti- 
ful flag of the free, to deliver that misguided people, 
and bring them out of the humiliating condition to 
which tyranny and priestcraft have subjected them. 
Gen. William Walker, now President of Nicaragua, 
a citizen of the United States, has commenced, and 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 173 

we trust will not fail, to renovate that land. He 
was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and his age 
does not exceed thirty-three years. His personal 
appearance is not commanding, by any means ; 
being of small stature, without the prepossession of 
address or manner. But there is an expression of 
meekness, accompanied by a nasal tone and slug- 
gish utterance, which would arrest attention in 
any assembly ; and these peculiarities made young 
Walker a subject of interest at a very early age. 

He was remarkable, as a boy, for the ardor of 
his friendships, the amiability of his disposition, 
and his obliging character towards his companions. 
If a " hard sum," or an " awful lesson," was ex- 
citing his young friends. Walker was eagerly 
sought to remove the difficulty. He was never 
known to be at recitation unprepared, and was so 
sensitive of his reputation at school, that the 
slightest mistake or blunder he might make would 
affect him to tears. He rarely then was known to 
laugh, although he often participated in the amuse- 
ments of his companions. 

But, to give the secret of Walker's rise from the 
modest school-boy of Nashville to the presidency 
of Nicaragua, we must tell you he had a good 



174 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

mother, an American woman, who loved God anc 
her country, and by gentleness, affection, and 
purity, exemplified and inculcated into the mind of 
her son the faith and doctrine of our Protestani 
Bible. He thus, as the eldest of four children, be- 
came the reliance of his widowed mother, and by 
the amiability of his disposition, and the sweetness 
of his temper, supplied the place of a daughter to 
her as a companion. 

Walker was educated a Christian youth, and 
made a proficient in Christian law. This stimu- 
lated him to spread American principles, and en- 
listed the sympathy of his fellow-men in his new 
and important mission of introducing a new admin- 
istration and laws, exciting enterprise, and pro- 
claiming human rights and freedom in that darkened 
land. He was originally intended for the ministry, 
but a visit to Europe interposed, and he remained 
in Paris two years to prosecute the studies of law 
and physics. He returned home, and connected 
himself with the editorial corps of his country, first 
at New Orleans, where he was connected with the 
Crescent, and then with the Herald, at San Fran- 
cisco, California. 

His independence, as well as ability, soon made 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 175 

liiin a terror to evil doers ; and an article reflecting 
upon the judiciary in California caused him to be 
arraigned for contempt of court. He was con- 
demned, and made to pay a fine of five hundred 
dollars, and suffer incarceration. 

This tyramiy excited the just indignation of even 
that community, and every public demonstration 
was made to encourage Walker in his advocacy of 
the liberties of the people. When he afterwards 
appeared before the legislature to demand the 
removal of this unjust judge, he awakened the con- 
fidence and respect of the assembly, although he 
failed to secure the expulsion of his enemy. 

Gen. Walker's first military efiibrt was directed 
to conquer Sonora, in northern Mexico. But the 
brig was seized in which his party were to embark, 
by the interference of the government. This mo- 
mentary detention was followed by greater suc- 
cess on the part of Walker ; and, landing in Lower 
California, in October, 1853, he was soon declared 
president of that country. 

The motive which influenced Walker was frankly 
exposed, namely, to take possession of Mexico, by 
first securing the provinces of the north. The 
invasion of Sonora was then made. His numbers 



176 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

became reduced by desertion and starvation, and he 
and his surviving men, clothed in tattered garments, 
were compelled to retreat. This expedition occu- 
pied seven months, when Walker returned to Cali- 
fornia, and resumed his occupation of editor. 

In August, 1854, a company, formed for commer- 
cial purposes, organized in California, and set sail 
for the gold regions of Central America. After an 
absence of some months, it was proposed to aug- 
ment their forces, and send for Walker, to 
enhst in negotiations with the Spanish American 
republics. A grant of twenty-one thousand acres 
of land was offered tliis party to enlist in the 
democratic cause, and the siege of Granada. 
Walker demanded fifty-two thousand acres, and 
would consent to nothing less. This proposition 
was accepted, and after five months of preparation, 
attended by formidable opposition on the part of 
capitalists, he embarked early in May, 1855, upon 
the enterprise of colonizing these states by Ameri- 
can means, and on American principles. Sixty- 
two persons composed this entire expedition, armed 
each with a rifle, revolvers, and knives. 

The scenes of massacre and carnage which fol- 
lowed the dissolution of the union in Central 



i 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 177 

America, demonstrated tliat these people were unfit 
for self-government. In Nicaragua and Guatemala, 
particularly, the strife had become most fearful 
with the Indian and negro, in opposition to the old 
Spanish races. 

Two years ago, Castellan, a republican democrat, 
without the support of wealth or power, attempted 
to redeem his oppressed countrymen, by intro- 
ducing the principles of freedom. He was opposed 
by Chamorro, a haughty aristocrat, who, by intrigue 
and wealth, secured his reelection, against the will 
of the people. Castellan and other political oppo- 
nents were then thrown into prison. The Supreme 
Court was abolished, and these men finally banished 
from the country. 

Castellan fled to Honduras, where, under the 
protection of President Cabiinos, the friend and 
patron of human rights, they conceived the idea of 
revolutionizing Nicaragua for the sake of liberty. 
CasteUan and his associates returned and triumphed. 
He became Provisional Director, which ofQce he 
held until his death, September, 1855. 

The priesthood, the most powerful enemy to the 
rights of the people in Central America, as every- 
where else where they prevail, now united with the 
16 



178 CENTRAL AJklERICA. 

autocrat Cliamorra, to defeat the liberals ; and this 
proud demagogue obtained almost the entire state 
of Nicaragua. At this crisis Chamorra died, and, 
amidst the savage ferocity which followed among 
his chiefs, who assumed the quarrel. General Walker 
entered, and arrested the career of bloodshed by 
the immediate restoration of peace and order. 

Gen. Walker repaired to Leon, the capital of 
the state, exhibited his contract, and reported him- 
self ready for action. 

The ministry had steadily opposed the coming of 
the Americans ; and Walker, disgusted by their 
delay to give him a formal recognition, was about 
embarking for Honduras to aid the patriot Cabanos 
against Guatemala, when a courier was despatched 
entreating him to stop, and the next day the 
Americans enlisted in the cause of Nicaragua. 



CHAPTER II. 

The battle of Eivas was the first to engage the 
fifty- eight Americans who were then under Walker. 
He added to that number one hundred natives, who 
fled at the first fire, leaving the Americans to 
encounter five hundred of the enemy alone. The 
fight continued several hours, and while the Ameri- 
cans left double their own number of the enemy 
dead on the field, they remained without the loss 
of a hair of their heads. Walker, seeing the odds 
of eight to one was too great an exposure, made for 
a house where the enemy was sheltered, and drove 
them out and occupied it. These Cha?norri?is 
then held a council, and decided to dislodge them ; 
but every attempt was made futile by American 
shot, which was poured into each as he attempted 
to approach. At night, however, the Americans 
fought their way out, and retreated to Virgin Bay. 

This Rivas battle inspired the Nicaraguans 
with such awe of American arms, that they 



180 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

regarded it certain death to go within three hundi-ed 
yards of their rifles. Gen. Bocha owned one hun- 
dred and eighty killed in that fight, and the 
conduct which the Americans displayed under such 
fearful odds soon encouraged the democratic party 
to hope for success under the intrepid Walker. 

The battle of Virgin Bay followed next. Here, 
again, the fifty-eight Americans, with one hundred 
and twenty natives, were all Walker's force, while 
the servile party had five hundred and forty. 
Beside, they had cannon, and were protected by 
timber, while the Walker party were exposed in the 
streets. But these enemies to freedom were again 
routed. Gen. Walker was struck by a spent ball 
in this battle, and other Americans escaped in a no 
less remarkable manner. 

The Americans, after making a good impression 
at Virgin Bay, proceeded to San Juan, where, with 
death meeting them at every turn by cholera, this 
little American band remained, encouraged by the 
example of their brave commander. From San 
Juan del Sar, Walker, with his troops, proceeded 
in October to Granada, where some fighting was 
done, fifteen of the enemy being killed, and seven 
taken prisoners. The Americans were fired upon 



CENTRAL AJIERICA. 181 

from the Romisli cliurcli ; and, on approaching it, 
found men, women, and children, to the number of 
eighty souls, chained, in abject misery, whom the 
Americans instantly released. 

Lieut. Col. Oilman, and twenty-five Americans, 
w^ere now detailed to obtain the fort, a mile east 
of the city, which Avas armed by forty men ; and 
on the morning of the 13th October, 1855, the 
battle of Granada was fought. Gen. Walker, dis- 
carding the natives, had but one hundred and ten 
men, with whom he took the Grand Plaza, captured 
all their artillery, and, after killing but ten men, 
from three hundred to four hundred surrendered as 
prisoners. In this engagement, but one American 
■was slightly w^ounded. 

Walker's power was now felt, and he was then 
military commander in the vanquished Sebastopol 
of Nicaragua. On the day succeeding the battle 
of Granada, the native citizens met, and adopted 
resolutions offering Walker the Presidency of Ni- 
caragua. This he declined in favor of Gen. Corral. 

Col. Wheeler, the American Minister, was then 

consulted, and requested to take to Gen. Corral, at 

Leon, a proposition of peace. Wheeler at first 

declined, under the fear that it might compromise 

16* 



182 CENTRAL AJIERICA. 

his gOYernment ; but, becoming satisfied that it did 
not, he proceeded at once to Riras. Corral was 
absent ; and, after a few hours, Wheeler ordered 
his horses, to return, when he was told he could 
not leave, and armed soldiers were placed at his 
door. Thus detained for two days, his friends 
became alarmed at his absence, and sent a special 
messenger to Rivas, who, unable to enter, was 
informed by a native woman, true to the instincts 
of humanity, that the American Minister was a 
prisoner. 

The steamer Virgin immediately proceeded to 
Rivas by the quickest water course, and fired four 
heavily-loaded cannon on Saint George, the nearest 
point to the town. Col. Wheeler then informed 
the governor, through the Minister of War, that, 
if he was detained another day, his friends would 
attack Rivas, and exterminate its population. This 
produced the desired effect, and Wheeler obtained 
his passports, and an escort of one hundred men to 
the ship. 

Reinforcements now began to pour into Nicaragua 
from California. Col. Fry and Mr. Parker H. 
French arrived in October, accompanied by brave 
and spirited men. They were too late to partici- 



CENTRAL AMERICA. " 183 

pate in the conquest of Granada, but there were 
still enough to engage them in Nicaragua. Col. 
Fry and Mr. French took passage in the Virgin, at 
Virgin Bay ; and, determined to take San Carlos 
by surprise, sent the captain and two men ashore, 
requesting the immediate surrender of the fort. 

They were seized and made prisoners, and the 
steamer was fired into by twelve -pound shot five 
times. The American riflemen, detached from 
Walker, under Capt. Tumbull, were then sent 
ashore, to take the fort ; but their ammunition got 
wet by the rain, and they were obliged to retreat 
to Virgin Bay. About an hour after these men 
left, the New York steamer San Carlos arrived, 
and was hailed from the fort before reaching it ; 
and an eighteen-pounder was fired into her, in- 
stantly killing a mother and child, residents of 
California, and otherwise committing serious out- 
rages upon the ship. 

A few days later, while these passengers were 
waiting for transit at Virgin Bay, a troop of horse- 
men surprised them, and fired seventy shots over 
their heads. The excitement now was appalling, 
and passengers fled in all directions, while many 
were subsequently caught, and deprived of their 



184 , CENTRAL AMERICA. 

revolvers. These two steamers, Virgin and San 
Carlos, then made for Granada, and phiced their 
passengers under the protection of Col. Wheeler, 
the American Minister. 

While this outrage was being perpetrated on 
passengers at Virgin Bay, Gen. Walker was in 
Granada, organizing the army, of which he was 
made general ; and in sixteen days from his en- 
trance into that city, peace had been made, and a 
new government organized. 

Why did Walker thus become the liberator of 
Nicaragua ? We answer, because his integrity 
inspired confidence with friends and enemies ; and 
when he refused the Presidency, it carried convic- 
tion to the minds of the people that he would not 
deceive them to glorify himself. 

On the 19th of October, Gen. Corral was inau- 
gurated President of the country. A public 
thanksgiving was made for peace, and oaths taken 
to perpetuate it. " Look at that man Walker, 
sent by Providence to bring peace, prosperity, and 
happiness, to this blood-stained, unhappy country," 
was the language of Padre Vijil, who subsequently 
was sent on a mission to the United States, for the 
recognition of Nicaragua's independence. AValker 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 185 

and Corral reviewed tlie army on that day ; and it 
certainly must have gratified any American to 
behold the promising prospect of that country, in 
an American citizen claiming to teach the people 
the rights and the benefits of democratic freedom. 

By every monthly steamer from California, ad- 
venturers flocked to Central America ; and from 
both sides of the continent Walker's forces were 
steadily augmented, until they had grown from fifty- 
eight to upwards of one thousand men. Kor were 
these emigrants confined to mere adventurers, with- 
out education or fortune. On the contrary, men 
imbued with the true spirit of American progress, 
who could look to the future, and see America's 
magnificent destiny, were found identified with the 
" Nicaragua Expedition." 

The devastation of war was sadly visible over all 
Central America. Granada, upon whom a new era 
had then dawned, was reduced from thirty thousand 
to about eight thousand. Walker was soon placed 
in emergencies which prove the real character of 
men, and settle the question of fitness for mental 
and moral responsibility. A man named Jordan 
had fired at a native when intoxicated ; and, under 
the belief that the man would recover, Jordan was 



186 CENTRAL a:\ierica. 

sentenced by court martial to leavo the country. 
Subsequently, the man, however, died, and Walker 
ordered Jordan to be shot, next morning, by a file 
of twelve rifles. The mother of the boy went 
down upon her knees, and implored Walker's clem- 
ency. Padre Vijil and others also begged the 
same, on their knees. But Walker was inexorable. 
He had made this stern decree to satisfy justice, 
and no power could dissuade him from its execu- 
tion. 

Treason was now discovered in the President of 
the country, and he too was made to pay the pen- 
alty of the traitor. Gen. Corral, to whom Walker 
yielded the chief magistracy, and who, with the 
Bible in one hand and the treaty in the other, had 
promised to sustain and respect the government, 
was proved to have been plotting its entire destruc- 
tion. Treasonable design on the part of Corral was 
proved by a fair trial, and he was sentenced to be 
shot. Walker approved the finding of the court 
and sentence ; and, on November the 8th, at two 
o'clock, he ordered Corral to be led to the great 
square, in the presence of the garrison, and die the 
death all traitors should die. Rivas then was .made 
President of the country. 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 187 

At this time, new reinforcements came to Walk- 
er's aid ; and a letter to him from Col. Kinney, 
proposing to recognize Gen. Walker as commander- 
in-chief of the army of Nicaragua, provided 
Walker would recognize him as Governor of Mos- 
quito Territory. Walker thus characteristically 
replied: "Tell Mr. Kinney, or Col. Kinney, or 
Gov. Kinney, or by whatever name he styles him- 
self, that, if he interferes with the territory of 
Nicaragua, and I can lay my hands on him, I will 
most assuredly hang him." 

The American minister, Mr. J. H. Wheeler, 
officially recognized the new government of Nica- 
ragua, and he was officially received by President 
Rivas on the 10th of October. On the 17th of No- 
vember, the Nicaragueuse newspaper was started; 
and, with an independent press, and a free consti- 
tutional government, it became at once an important 
object to have it recognized by all the states of the 
world, but, above all others, by that of these United 
States. Col. Parker 11. French was consequently 
sent as minister i^lenipotentiary to this government. 
This placed the administration in its usual attitude 
of weakness before the world ; and, the authorities 
at Washington becoming alarmed about Central 



188 CENTRAL AIMERICA. 

American matters, the District Attorney of Xew 
York, Mr. McKeon, was directed to guard us 
against fillibusteros with a vigilant eye. Here, 
Americans, with the Cuban affairs and the burn- 
ing of Greytown staring us in the face, the ad- 
ministration suddenly becomes frightened at a A^ery 
harmless fact ! 

In the mean while the government of Nicaragua, 
learning the treatment awarded to its accredited 
minister, immediately dismissed or suspended all 
official communication with Mr. Wheeler, the 
American minister, and revoked the apj^ointment 
of Mr. French, that he might return to Nicaragua. 
The refusal of Mr. Pierce's administration to recog- 
nize this ambassador was based upon the unwar- 
ranted conclusion, in view of the facts, that Walker's 
government had not been acknowledged by the 
people of that republic. Col. French, instead of a 
reception befitting his mission, was arrested on the 
charge of enlisting soldiers, and the steamer North- 
ern Light detained from her regular trip, and pas- 
sengers taken from her. But American acumen 
was quick to discern the utility of Walker's govern- 
ment, and the people, undaunted by the. petty 
refusal of Mr. Pierce to sanction American rule, — 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 189 

which promised reform in a foreign land, — pressed 
on with alacrity to Nicaragua, under those inalien- 
able rights which are the heritage of American men. 

The early explorations in the gold regions of 
Nicaragua were made under the temporary estab- 
lishment of peace, and satisfactorily demonstrated 
that, with the advantage of such machinery as is 
used in California, the product from them would be 
infinitely greater. With the common rocker, from 
five to ten dollars a day were at once realized. The 
climate of Nicaragua, too, is inviting to settlers ; 
the fevers do not prevail there, as in California ; 
the air is cool and salubrious, and labor is rarely 
impeded at any season of the year. 

Nothing can surpass the beauty of the natural 
scenery of Nicaragua. Its plains, valleys, and vol- 
canoes, the plumage of its birds, its beautiful verd- 
ure, and the ever- varying hues of its mountain 
ranges, present attractions for habitation rarely 
pointed out to man. Then the richness and variety 
of the products of its soil are not less noted ; and, 
with the exception of cotton, there is not a vegeta- 
ble growth in the United States of America that 
does not flourish in Nicaragua. 

What is there, then, Americans, to arrest or check 
17 



190 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

the advancement of this new republic under Ameri- 
can men? Nothing but interior impediments, arising 
from the want of education among the people. La- 
bor is cheap. It is on the yery road of commercial 
travel, and between our Pacific and Atlantic states. 
In point of geographical locality, with an ocean each 
side, in the great centre of trade, Nicaragua must 
become a great "highway" of commerce through- 
out the world. Now, what she needs is the right 
kind of population. To obtain this, Americans must 
have the bona fide evidences of interest. With its 
auspicious position, its gold, and its American pro- 
tection, we shall see American settlers increasing 
from year to year. 

The government of Honduras has made grants 
already to the Honduras mining and trading com- 
pany, of New York. The daily discoveries prove 
the universal presence of this metal. 

After California was discovered, England became 
alarmed at the travel across the Central American 
isthmus, and thought there would be another effort 
to get a ship canal between the oceans ; and, to 
arrest Americans in taking exclusive advantage of 
this central route, England brought about the 
unique treaty of 1850, made by Mr. Buhver on 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 191 

the part of Great Britain, and Mr. Clayton in be- 
half of the government at Washington. This 
" Clayton-Bulwer Treaty" ostensibly settled this 
disputed region ; and, under this idea, it was con- 
firmed and ratified. The states of Central Amer- 
ica supposed it was a full redress for their past 
grievances ; but too soon they discovered the 
Avhole affair was a failure, England asserting her 
claim to the ' ' Ruatan Islands ' ' and the ' ' Mosquito 
coast." It is useless here to inquire into the fal- 
lacy of this claim. It is clearly proven she never 
did of right possess it ; and recent negotiations at 
London have resulted in the entire withdrawal from 
this pretension. 

The effect of our government's refusal to recog- 
nize the independence of Nicaragua through Mr. 
French was very disastrous. Guatemala, Hondu- 
ras, and Costa Rica, immediately followed the 
example, and refused all correspondence with Walk- 
er's government. Col. Schlessenger was sent as 
commissioner to Costa Rica, to inquire into the 
reasons of its refusal to recognize, stating that 
Nicaragua desired peace with all the neighboring 
states. He was treated with scorn, and driven from 
the country. Gen. Walker instantly declared war 



192 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

against Costa Rica, and the most energetic meas- 
ures were taken to avenge the insult. The Costa 
Rican government then authorized its president 
alone, or in union with other states, to take up arms 
against Nicaragua, and " drive the foreign invaders 
from the soil." The militia of Costa Rica, amount- 
ing to nine thousand, were called into action, and 
one hundred thousand dollars were immediately 
raised for their support. The army commenced its 
march to Nicaragua before the design was known 
to Gen. Walker. A printing press was taken along, 
and daily bulletins issued of their progress. 

Schlessenger, an unprincipled German, was se- 
lected by Walker, more from the spirit of retaliation 
than personal regard, to head the forces sent against 
Costa Rica. This force amounted to two hundred 
and seven in number, commanded by Schlessenger, 
when he left Virgin Bay for Costa Rica. These 
were composed of two American companies from 
New York and New Orleans, and two other compa- 
nies of Germans and Frenchmen. 

The guides left this little band on reaching Costa 
Rica ; and the brutal conduct of Schlessenger to the 
troops, requiring them to march under a torrid sun 
and lie by under a cool moonlight, and innumerable 



CENTRAL ASIERICA. 193 

acts of cruelty and cowardice, soon disgusted the 
Americans, and inspired their deepest resentment. 
He showed, besides, marked difference in his treat- 
ment towards Americans and the other troops. A 
German, for example, who had committed an act 
which in military law merited death, was scarcely 
reprimanded ; while a New Yorker came near being 
shot for picking up a piece of bread as he was walk- 
ing. The fear of American fire only prevented that 
act of the ignominious coward. 



17 



* 



CHAPTER III. 

The battle of Santa Rosa is in all respects the 
most disreputable engagement wliicli ever occun'ed 
upon this continent, or was associated with the 
American name. Santa Rosa was the hacienda 
occupied by Schlessenger and his forces when they 
fired upon the enemy. The Americans took their 
position in the front ranks, and while the battle 
was raging, Schlessenger appeared at the corner 
of the house behind the New York troops, and, 
in utter consternation, cried out, " There they are, 
boys! there they are!" Then, retreating, ex- 
claimed, " Campaigne, Francaisc ! " and ran with 
his best speed, followed by the Frenchmen. The 
Germans caught the influence, and, dashing their 
weapons on the ground, fled likewise. The Amer- 
ican party remained unmoved and undaunted, and 
as soon as the real intentions of the enemy, were 
discovered, Lieut. Iliggins gave the order to fire, 



CENTRAL AMERICA, 195 

and never did an angry volley of shot go out with 
a greater will, or do more effective execution. 

The enemy fell back, but, on reloading, pressed 
nearer to the gates of tlie hacienda, when the brave 
Parker, engaged in checking them, was shot to the 
heart. Cahart, another brave American, now took 
his position on the plaza, and shot the enemies' 
leader as he rode up and down their lines^ and who 
three times before had fired his rifle into the 
American ranks. By this time, Major O'Neill, 
who had gone after Schlessenger, returned, saying 
*'he wanted to be with the company who would 
fight ;" and the New York company then, seeing 
the enemy approaching with such fearful odds, 
withdrew, under O'Neill's sanction. 

Here note the fact that this New York company 
was the only one which fired a volley in that 
action ! These forty-four men were reduced to 
twenty-two by the action, and were the last to 
leave the spot. The enemy, too, on this occasion, 
beside being double Schlessenger's force, were 
picked and tried soldiers, who had before fought the 
Americans at the bloody battle of Rivas. The 
troops in the American camp were entirely un- 
prepared for tliis engagement. And it was not 



196 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

remarkable that rowdies and raw recruits should 
run, wlien their leader took them by surprise and 
set the example. 

The whole management of this expedition to 
invade Costa Eica was defectiye, and served to 
warn Americans from taking arms again under an 
incompetent leader, like Schlessenger, or reljdng for 
cooperation upon men without principle, experience, 
or patriotism. Schlessenger was caught, and tried 
by court-martial on two indictments, One was, 
that he had acted the traitor when Walker sent him 
as minister to Costa Rica, and that he betrayed his 
country to that government. The other was, cow- 
ardice in deserting the American army in that 
country. Before the court, however, had consum- 
mated the trial, Schlessenger suddenly disappeared, 
and joined the ranks of the enemy. 

After Schlesscnger's defeat by the Costa Ricans, 
no effort was made to impede their invasion of 
Nicaragua, and about three thousand concen- 
trated at Granada. The havoc of property, and the 
murder of wounded American citizens residing at 
Virgin Bay and San Juan del Sur, are among the 
acts of the most atrocious barbarity on record. The 
Americans, however, found some little redress for 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 197 

these outrages, a few days later, when Col. Green, 
with but fifteen men, met two hundred Costa Ri- 
cans, killed twenty-seven and dispersed the remain- 
der, only losing one man and wounding two 
others of that little party of Americans. 

We next find the Costa Ricans entering the city 
of Rivas, on the 7th of April, to take possession. 
Gen. Walker, on hearing this at Granada, deter- 
mined to expel the enemy from Rivas ; and, with 
only five hundred men, including one hundred 
natives, he made preparations, in a single day^ to 
attack the enemy in their stronghold, with a prac- 
tised force of two thousand seven hundred men. 
With this democratic party, Walker surprised the 
enemy by coming in by a route which they had never 
suspected. But when the troops were seen, as they 
ascended the eminence to approach the city, the 
enemy poured do^\^l their batteries with tremen- 
dous violence, which the American forces returned 
with such fierce energy and rapidity, that in five 
minutes they had the entire possession of the 
plaza. The Costa Ricans fled to their barricades, 
and, concealing themselves for protection, continued 
to fire. Then, too, they had the advantage of a 
cannon, which made them more formidable. The 



198 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

Americans, haA'ing none, determined to seize it. 
The design was no sooner formed than Lieut. Col. 
Sanders gave the order to fire on the Costa Ricans, 
and, regardless of danger, he and his brave fol- 
lowers rushed in and captured this fatal weapon of 
war. They took it to the corner of the plaza, and 
placed it under the management of Capt. McArdle, 
a ready and accomplished artillerist ; and" in a few 
minutes that engine, which was destined to destroy 
Walker's forces, was playing fatally over the enemy. 
Infuriated to madness, the Costa Ricans tried to 
recover their gun, but the Mississippi rifles drove 
them back to concealment. A body of these rifle- 
men now stationed themselves on a house-top, and 
during the engagement killed, at least, one hun- 
dred of the enemy. Seeing the American party 
invincible, the Costa Ricans, with three hundred 
remaining, retreated towards San Juan del Sur, 
where they were met with a reinforcement of two 
hundred and fifty from Virgin Bay. As soon as 
Gen. Walker was notified of their approach to San 
Juan del Sur, he sent a body of men to protect that 
part of the town in which the American rangers 
were stationed ; and after signal execution .on their 
part, the Costa Ricans again were repulsed, with 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 199 

slaughter. More than one hundred dead bodies of 
the enemy were left to tell the story, while tiuo of 
the noblest of the democratic party became victims 
in this action, — Lieut. Morgan, of Gen. Walker's 
stafi', and Lieut. Doyle, of the army. 

This fighting was excessive, and showed the de- 
termined spirit by which the Americans were actu- 
ated. They fought from morning to night, and 
when the enemy ceased hostilities it was soon dis- 
covered to be a ruse to reinforce themselves. Lieut. 
Gay, who subsequently died from excessive exer- 
tion and useless exposure to danger, was the man 
to detect the trick ; and it was decided to rout 
the Costa Ricans from the place they so much 
coveted. 

Ten officers, beside three privates, armed with 
rifles and Colt's revolvers, equipped themselves for 
the expedition, and entered the building of the foe 
to determine on a plan of operation. As soon as 
they did, they gave the signal and fired, and drove 
the enemy to the fence without any loss, except a 
single wound upon one gallant ofliccr, Capt. Breek- 
enridge. The opposition was at least one hundred, 
but these thirteen Americans, Avith bullets flying 
all over them, persisted, and accomplished their 



200 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

purpose of dislodging the enemy, without the loss 
of a single man, killed or AYOunded. 

The enemy still obstinately attempted to main- 
tain their ground, and in the continued action 
Capt. liueston was killed. Thirty of the enemy 
now paid the atoning penalty for this brave Ameri- 
can spirit who had fallen, and the remaining twelve 
carried such havoc into the Costa Rican ranks that 
they once more desisted, and sought safer quarters. 

Retreating and assaihng continued, until, after a 
loss of ten more of their number, the Costa Eicans 
again reached the old cathedral, from behind where 
they renewed the assault on the Americans. Lieut. 
Gay, who was in the first battle of Rivas, and in 
all the future engagements of Nicaragua, was now 
compelled to lay down his life. He Avho projected 
the engagement died in its triumph. 

The English and Germans held Minie rifles, 
which they used dexterously ; and it was by those 
foreign jacobins, who had joined the despot's party 
in Central America to put down liberty and tram- 
ple upon human rights, that most of our American 
citizens were killed. 

The Walker party, in this second Rivas engage- 
ment, was not one fourth as great in number as the 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 201 

Costa Ricans. Beside, all the barricades and fort- 
resses AYere with the enemy. Gen. Walker, for 
hours, in this battle, moved about on horseback, un- 
moved and undismayed, reposing confidently upon 
the justice of his cause, and sustained continually 
by the sublimity of his victories. The staff of Gen. 
Walker demonstrated extraordinary courage and 
daring, and, with the exception of the brave Capt. 
Sutter, they all died gallantly and desperately as- 
serting the rights of human freedom. Col. Kenew, 
also the volunteer aid of Gen. Walker, was not 
less noted for his prowess in arms ; while the 
native force in this battle, under their distinguished 
leader, Col. Machado, who fell in the engagement, 
certainly deserved the highest commendation for 
their eminent courage. 

This engagement of the 11th of April, 185G, is 
one of the most remarkable in the history of Central 
America. The Costa Ricans had actually killed 
at least six hundred of their number ; how many 
wounded and deserted was never ascertained. Their 
quick retreat and abandonment of Rivas tell the 
unfortunate result to them. And now look at the 
disparity again. The Americans came off with 
18 



202 CENTRAL A^IERICA. 

fresli laurels, liaving had but thirty killed, and the 
same number wounded. 

By this time recruits came in numbers from l^ew 
Orleans, New York, and California, to reinforce 
the Americans by joining the Nicaraguan army, 
while public meetings in the United States, and 
the voice of the press, united in pseans of praise 
for the brave deeds of Americans on foreign soil. 
Hostilities now seemed to cease towards Gen. 
Walker by the northern states of Central America, 
and the proclamation of President Rivas was ac- 
cepted by San Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, in 
the most amicable spirit. The enlistment of soldiers 
was therefore stopped in these states, and the new 
levy ceased ; and, the Eivas government of Nicaragua 
being acknowledged, the surrender of that country 
to Anglo-Saxon liberty seemed to have been made. 

There are those, unquestionably, among us, who 
censure the idea of American expansion, and would 
squeeze the very thought from the minds of the 
people. But, Americans, you may search the 
records of history, in vain, to find that any people 
were ever condemned or dcfimed for their con- 
quests. Why have Ctcsar, Alexander, Charles the 
Fifth, Charlemagne, and Napoleon, been held in 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 203 

admiration by the human race ? Simply because 
they extended their conquests into foreign territo- 
ries. And while American youth will study the 
histories of those heroes with interest and pleasure, 
they will never be inspired Avith enthusiasm for the 
opposite class of men. And this sympathy, in- 
stinctive with Americans, for any people struggling 
to he free, carried brave men to the Mexican army, 
to the Russian anny in the Crimea, as well as to 
Nicaragua, when they beheld their own countrymen, 
imbued with the true spirit of hberty, and nerved 
Avith Anglo-American energy, unsheathing the sword 
upon that soil to accomplish what years of blood- 
shed might not otherwise have done for that people. 
Walker has done for Nicaraguan liberty what La- 
fayette, De Kalb, Pulaski, Kosciusko, had done 
for American liberty, and for such considerations. 
"Who, then, can repress patriotic emotion, or deep 
sympathy for his triumph ? 

When the people of Nashville, Tennessee, the 
place of Walker's birth, heard of his brave deeds, 
they met to testify their joy, and l)ore witness to 
the singular purity of his character, and his high 
mental and moral endowments. They had watched 
his movements with filial solicitude, from the Che- 



204 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

mora and Castellon reyolutions to the battle of 
Rivas, Tvhicli secured to Nicaragua independence ; 
and when it was demonstrated that Wallvcr had 
covered himself with glory, there was no measure 
to their generous admiration. 

After the battle of Costa Rica, on the 11th of 
April, to which the friends of liberty in the United 
States looked with so much apprehension. Gen. 
Walker, without ammunition, remained on the spot 
until next day, and then marched with music to 
Granada unmolested, leaving the Costa Ricans to 
evacuate the to^vn. 

And now, my countrymen, you may inquire 
whence the determined hostility of the Costa Ricans 
to the government of Nicaragua. It was the re- 
sult of British instigation to drive out the Ameri- 
cans, which English and French agents encouraged, 
after the government at Washington refused to 
accept ]\rr. French. When, then, the fortunes of 
Gen. Wallier seemed about to end, England made 
offers of thousands of her arms to prejudice the 
natives against Americans, and, if possible, to get 
the control of Central America. The conduct of 
the President of Costa Rica was unparalleled, in 
denying Americans the right to engage in foreign 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 205 

service, and ordering them when taken prisoners 
in all cases to be shot. The attempt, then, of Costa 
Rica to control and prescribe the action of Ameri- 
cans, was enough to call upon every citizen of the 
land to bid our people " God speed " in Nicaragua. 
18* 



CHAPTER IV. 

Is it nothing, Americans, to see a son of this 
soil opening two hundred and fifty thousand acres 
of land to the agricultural pursuits and industry of 
freemen who may choose to go there and occupy it ? 
Is it nothing to see two millions of people being 
regenerated from papal ignorance and degradation ? 
Is it nothing to see this portion of the Western 
world affording its facilities for commerce, by bring- 
ing together the extremes of trade, which will 
benefit mankind ? 

When we consider that British power nerved the 
Costa Ricans with twenty-five hundred fighting 
men, to punish Americans for bringing Nicaragua 
to the desire for independence, and that France and 
Spain aided the effort, what American would hesi- 
tate to give every proper encouragement to Walker? 
From the moment we acquired California, too, the 
isthmuses of Nicaragua and Panama have • been 
important to us. 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 207 

In 1811, Congress declared the Temtory of 
Florida to be necessary to the United States, and 
passed a resolution to keep it out of the hands of 
foreign powers. On the 15th of January, the same 
day the President approved the act. Congress 
authorized Mr. Madison to take possession of that 
territory, and, if required, to use the anuy and navy 
of the country to defend it ; and such civil and judi- 
cial power was given as would protect Americans 
in all their rights of person, property, and religion. 

My countrymen, no effort was withheld by Eng- 
land to deprive this Union of Texas ; and, to pre- 
vent the acquisition of California, wliich she wanted 
to colonize, her squadron followed ours with a vigi- 
lant eye. ^Vhen, then, she saw Nicaragua almost 
in American arms, she set about aiding the Costa 
Ricans to put Americans down. Can we ever 
forget how England treated our fathers in their 
colonial independence ? And yet, what has added 
so much to her greatness as our nationality ? Had 
we never possessed California, England could never 
have penetrated the gold mines of Australia. 
"Wliat right, then, had she to interfere, because an 
American hero appeared by invitation in Nicaragua, 
to fix a higher glory upon his own glorious institu- 



208 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

tions, wliicli open tlie main cliance alike to all the 
sons of the soil ? 

It was England's interference that dissolved the 
union of the Central American states in 1838, just 
as she is now attempting to separate these United 
States to-day by intrigue and treachery on the 
question of slavery, about which she cares nothing, 
but to use as an instrument of discord to destroy 
our beautiful system of government. England 
bound herself by treaty to abandon Central America ; 
and yet, in the face of her solemn engagement, 
she has maintained ascendency over the Mosquito 
territory, held on to the Bay Islands, and en- 
croached on Honduras ; and, two years after the 
Clayton and Bulwer treaty was ratified, we find 
the queen issuing a warrant to erect these islands 
into a British colony ! 

Now, Americans, do you not consider it right to 
extend the protection of your laws to a people who 
invite you to take up their cause ? Do you not, in 
the self-relying, self-denying spirit of your ances- 
tors, wish to see the principles of self-government, 
upon which they planted this confederacy, made 
impregnable to tyrants in other lands ? In this 
sense, every American is a pillar to support the 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 209 

edifice of freedom, and to prepare this people for 
the perpetuity of Protestant liberty. Look at the 
length and breadth of our country, beginning ^vith 
a slip upon the Atlantic, and moving on until it 
has met the roar of the Pacific. We have. Mexico, 
nearly equal to our original dimensions. We have 
secured the territory of the West. And when we 
see what American energy and American princi- 
ples have already done in Central America, and 
consider how our own territory is to be defended, 
we have no reason to doubt that our stars and 
stripes will yet float over the Pacific gate of the 
Nicaragua transit ; because we cannot believe 
that Americans, now, will ever allow the key of 
the Gulf of Mexico to fi\ll into the hands of 
savages. They will not consent that the Central 
American states, essential to the commerce of the 
United States, shall ever be owned by their enemies. 
They will not allow any foreign power to arm 
Spanish colonists to murder their kinsmen ; which 
has been the work of European despotisms, who 
hate our interests, and tremble at the consequences 
of seeing Central America yield to Anglo-American 
intelligence, liberty, and laws. And, sooner than 
witness the unprovoked assault our people have 



210 CENTRAL AIMERICA. 

sustained at Nicaragua and Panama, it ^yould be 
better far to repeal the neutrality laws, and let 
Americans defend their own personal rights. 

Gen. Walker intercepted the letters intended 
for the Consul General of Costa Rica in London, 
proving that England furnished arms to the ene- 
mies of Americans. Beside, the whole British 
West India squadron went to the San Juan del 
Norte to testify that government's sympathy, and 
is there still, because Americans stnick down the 
foe in Nicaragua, and defended the people who 
were panting for freedom. The route to CaUfornia 
was also endangered by the English squadron at 
the mouth of the river. 

Now, my countrymen, mark the Jesuit trick ! 
These bloody Costa Ricans never declared war at 
all against Nicaragua, but against the Americans 
in that state, thereby denying them the power to 
defend the rights of human freedom. Ameri- 
cans, then, were shot when taken, their houses 
burned, their bodies consumed to ashes ; and still, 
as citizens of the United States, claiming protection 
from no other government. Think you that our 
Washington, could he rise from the deep slumber 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 211 

of the grave, would refuse his sympathy to the 
heroic Walker and his adherents ? Read his words ! 

On the 1st day of January, 1796, in reply to the 
minister of the French Republic, on the latter 
presenting- the colors of France to the United 
States, George "Washington pronounced these noble 
words: "Born, sir, in a land of liberty; having 
early learned its value ; having engaged in a 
perilous conflict to defend it ; having, in a word, 
devoted the best years of my life to secure its 
permanent establishment in my own countiy , — my 
anxious recollections, my sympathetic feelings, and 
my best wishes, are iiTesistibly excited, when- 
soever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation 
unfurl the banners of freedom." 

Had Gen. Walker taken possession of JSlcaragua 
merely to keep the peace, he would have been 
justified by the precedent and practice of other 
nations. At least three countries in Europe are 
now occupied by the foreign troops of England, 
France, and Austria. ^^ thing could exceed the 
enthusiasm of the people, as the stars and stripes 
were raised at the American legation ; and all the 
subsequent acts of Gen. Walker, after the estab- 
lishment of the Rivas government, and the acknowl- 



212 CENTRAL AMERICA. 

edgment by tlie natives tliat he was their deliv- 
erer, confirms the prophecy of Padre Vijil, a few 
days before Walker entered Granada, when he 
said, " Our only hope now is in Heaven and Gen. 
Walker." 

Walker has been censured for the execution of 
Corral, most unjustly. Did not Corral himself 
select the Americans to try him, having no faith in 
his own countrymen ? And the two most intimate 
associates of Corral, who attended him to execu- 
tion, are now the warmest friends of Walker. 

AVlien the presidential election again came 
around, the candidates all sympathized with demo- 
cratic freedom ; but Walker was called, in prefer- 
ence to all others, to the presidency ; and, from the 
day of his inauguration, Nicaragua acquired a 
position, from which, we believe, she will never 
willingly recede. After the defection of Rivas, 
who, it is remembered, absconded with his cabinet 
on the 21st of June, Gen. Walker, in virtue of the 
authority placed in him by the treaty, appointed 
Fermin Ferrer president pro tempore ; and he, 
Rivas, and Salizar, all were candidates for the suf- 
frages of the people, as well as Walker. But, Avhile 
Walker was elected by nearly sixteen thousand 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 213 

votes, the aggregate vote of the other three did 
not much exceed seven thousand. 

This election occurred the 10th of last July ; 
and, on the 12th, Walker took the oath of office. 
The ceremonies were very imposing. The Ameri- 
can flag and those of Nicaragua and France were 
in front of the stage, an open Bible and crucifix 
placed on it, and a cushion laid upon the floor, on 
which President Walker knelt reverently, and took 
the oath of office. On the platform sat the pro- 
visional President, Ferrer, the bishop. Col. AVlieeler, 
and some of the field officers and their staffs. An 
appropriate valedictory was delivered to the people 
by President Ferrer, and an inaugural by President 
Walker which would have honored any President 
of our own country, divested, as it was, of all use- 
less verbiage, all specious professions, but carrying 
an intuitive conviction into the minds of the people 
that they had at last found a man in whose integ- 
rity and honor they could confide. 

The assembly then proceeded to the church, 
according to their old custom, where the Te Deum 
was performed, with the usual ceremony of blessing 
the President, to which Walker submitted. Some 
may say, ""Why did he do this, being a genuine 
19 



214. CENTRAL AJIERICA. 

Protestant? " We answer, because reason and the 
Word of God justified the necessity of temporarily 
tolerating useless rites, which ignorance and papal 
prejudice had fastened upon the people. In this 
way he might hope to enlist their good-Vv'ill, and 
gradually develop the benign influences of light 
and liberty, and prepare that down-trodden race to 
discard the infatuation of Jesuit priests, and the 
consequent degradation to which they are subjected. 
And until the population of Central America, or 
anywhere else, shall haA^e become Americanized by 
Protestant faith, they are unfitted to tread the 
American soil as citizens ; and we earnestly dep- 
recate the idea of the annexation to our own terri- 
tory of a race of savage idolaters, as the greatest 
national calamity that could befall us. 

In all subsequent difficulties by which the safety 
of the government of Nicaragua and President 
Walker has been perilled, the same determined 
courage has signalized the man. He executed 
Salizar when he was proved a traitor, and issued 
an exequator to the British consul when he detect- 
ed his complicity. The want of resources, and the 
consequent desertion of American troops, have at 
times since looked fatal to republican hopes ; but, 
whatever may be the result, it is glorious to recount 






CENTRAL AIMERICA. 215 

the brave deeds of Americans upon that foreign soil ; 
and it will ever invest it with interest, to know that 
it is enriched by the blood of American martyrs, 
which, ultimately, must germinate the eternal prin- 
ciples of truth and freedom. 

And, while we are astonished at the unequalled 
valor of our brave men in a foreign land, we find 
in their gallant and patriotic doings fresh evidences 
of the spirit with which they would meet the enemy 
on their own soil, if called to defend the national 
honor of their country, her rights, her altars, her 
homes, and her liberties. 

We deprecate war, and believe it is opposed to 
the benevolent principles of Christianity, and we 
trust no occasion shall ever arise to plunge us into 
its cruelties ; but, if this inevitable necessity should 
come, it is a blessing to feel that we are armed with 
brave defenders, millions of freemen, ready to repel 
the invader, and triumph mightily over the foe. Cen- 
tral America is yet in the mists of papal ignorance 
and delusion, through the influence and tyranny of 
a heartless, domineering priesthood, which must 
first be put down, and their power annihilated, 
before any free government can hope for permanent 
endurance, and the true sun of liberty rise to bless 
and gild the horizon of her hopes. 



REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Lamartine, in his history of the " Girondists," 
gives the thrilling incident of the tombs of the 
French kings, despoiled by the populace at St. 
Denis, who scattered their ashes and monuments 
to the winds. And the winds gave signs of a vir- 
tuous national feeling, as they moaned and sighed 
over the desecration of the dead. 

We are not now going to invade the mausoleum 
of our illustrious dead, to look at their vast fame, 
their sublime self-denial, or their firm patriotism ; 
but rapidly, as preliminary, to recur to the several 
administrations of the American government, from 
the days of Washington to those of Fillmore, be- 
fore we introduce that of the present executive, of 
Franklin Pierce ! 

General Washington was inaugurated President 
of this Union the 30th of April, 1789. The great 




^j>-awi jr.l j:&aiu ■- 




i\ 



REVIEW. 217 

and powerful opposition to the Constitution in 
several of the States then caused Congress to 
adopt sixteen amendments ; and ten of these' 
were approved by the Legislatures of the several 
States, in September of that year, and became 
part of the Constitution in 1791. Two other ar- 
ticles, adopted by the States, were made by sub- 
sequent Congresses, in 1794 and 1803, and also 
became part of the Constitution. 

The subjects of commerce and finance early en- 
grossed the attention of the first Congress, under 
Washington's administration ; and six months 
were required to frame the laws by which the 
government was to be administered. 

The power of appointment to and removal from 
office was strongly debated ; and, the Constitution 
being silent on removals, it was decided to be in 
the power of the President. The Cabinet of Wash- 
ington was not selected until September, 1789, 
four months after he was inaugurated. The office 
of Secretary of the Navy Avas established subse- 
quently, under Mr. Adams, in 1798. 

An opposition to the administration of Wash- 
ington was organized soon after he came to the 
presidency. His opponents were chiefly those who 
19* 



218 REVIEW. 

had opposed the Constitution, and called them- 
selves Republicans ; while the friends of the 
administration retained the name of Federalists. 

Hamilton and Knox sympathized with Wash- 
ington. Jefferson and Randolph opposed his ad- 
ministration. These four gentlemen composed his 
Cabinet. 

The last years of the first term of Washington's 
government were intensely exciting. He and his 
adherents were in favor of preserving friendly re- 
lations with Great Britain ; while Mr. Jefferson 
and the opposition declared sympathy for France. 

In this condition of affairs, weak and feeble, 
yet divided and distracted, nothing but the almost 
superhuman strength and wisdom of Washington 
saved the Union from destruction. 

At this crisis of public distrust, the leaders of 
both parties acted as patriots, and, rising above 
the excitement of party, insisted upon the reelec- 
tion of Washington ; while the people unanimous- 
Iv affirmed the wisdom of this decision, through 
the ballot-box. 

It was only on the Vice-President, then, that 
party feeling was exhibited ; and JNIr. Adams, 
the federal constitutional candidate, was elected 



REVIEW, 219 

by twenty-seven majority over Governor Clinton, 
who carried New York for the republicans, and 
received fifty electoral votes. Aaron Burr, the 
third candidate, received four votes. 

Mr. Adams then had the support of all the 
Northern States, except New York ; and South 
Carolina was the only state south of Maryland 
that voted for him. 

In 1793, the second term of Washington's ad- 
ministration. Congress met in Philadelphia. The 
House elected a Speaker from the opposition. Jef- 
ferson resigned, as Secretary of State, the begin- 
ning of that term ; and Washington, having by 
experiment seen the effect of a mixed Cabinet, 
now selected one which agreed with him in the 
policy of administering the government. 

It is a singular fact, that all the representatives 
in Congress from Virginia opposed Washington's 
administration, except one or two members early 
in his first term. 

Washington and his Cabinet agreed, in liis sec- 
ond term, that this country had no right to take 
pa^t with France in her war against England ; 
and in April, 1793, issued the celebrated pro- 
clamation of neutrality, which has ever since 



220 REVIEW. 

been the policy of this government with foreign 
powers. 

To give motion and effect to the Union was the 
great mission of Washington. He had never stud- 
ied a profession, — had not even begun the study 
of the classics. But for fifteen years before the 
Revolution he had been in the Legislature of 
Virginia, where he exercised his influence by 
soundness of judgment and readiness to act. He 
was never known to speak longer than ten min- 
utes in any deliberative body ; and in the con- 
vention which formed the Constitution he spoke 
but twice — once on taking the presidency, and 
again near the close, when he asked consent to 
change the ratio of representation in Congress. 
He communicated to Congress verbally, and not 
by written messages, as all the Presidents have 
done from the time of Mr. Madison. In the dis- 
cretionary power of the executive, Washington 
was wise and just. He never displaced any man 
for opinion, not even under the great party ex- 
citement about sympathy for France. Yet he 
preferred to give office to revolutionary patriots, 
because he knew them to be true Americans, and 
had tried them. 



REVIEW. 221 

While iu the presidential office, public, and 
private credit was restored to the country ; all 
disputes between us and foreign nations were 
adjusted, except those with France ; and the pros- 
perity of the Union had arisen to remarkable emi- 
nence, notwithstanding all hostile opposition. 

He adhered tenaciously to his foreign policy, 
and finally overcame the popular clamor for France 
against England. His example stands replete with 
wisdom and devotion to the whole Union, and 
challenges the admiration of all parties to-day. 
His magnanimity, forbearance, his personal dig- 
nity, his construction of the Constitution, his sa- 
cred regard for it, his communications to Congress, 
and recommendations in regard to the Judiciary, 
Indian tribes, finance, the mint, as well as his 
demeanor to all the ministers and officers of the 
government, make him a model for all to imitate, 
who shall occupy his official position, or subscribe 
to the constitutional American principles which 
he inculcated and enforced. 

The policy of Mr. Adams' administration was, 
at first, regarded as identical with that of Wash- 
ington's. But the political acts of Mr. Adams 
rendered him very soon unpopular with the feder- 



222 REVIEW. 

alists, though they were stronger in Coiigress 
than under Washington. 

Mr. Adams quarrelled with his cabinet, and 
dismissed Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, and 
Mr. McHenry, Secretary of War, from office. In 
May, 1800, he appointed John Marshall, of Vir- 
ginia, Secretary of State, and Samuel Dexter, of 
Massachusetts, Secretary of War. Benjamin Stod- 
dard, of Maryland, in 1798, went into his cabinet, 
as first Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Adams's 
administration was renowned for party strife ; for 
the dispute between France and the United States, 
which he settled against the federal policy ; for the 
organization of the navy ; for the passage of the 
alien and sedition laws, and for causing the down- 
fall of his party at the end of four years. 

In 1800, the seat of government was removed 
to Washington, and Mr. Adams made his last 
annual speech in the new capitol. 

Mr. Jefferson's administration, from 1801 to 
1809, was distinguished by the acquisition of 
Louisiana, the surveys of the coast, the exploring 
expedition of Lewis and Clark across the continent, 
advantageous Indian treaties, the embargo and 
other restrictions on commerce, the trial of the 



REVIEW. 223 

gun-boat system, the reduction of the navy, and 
successful hostilities with the Barbary powers in 
the Mediterranean. 

Mr. Jefferson was sustained, throughout his 
administration, by Congress. He removed and 
appointed at pleasure ; displacing always federal- 
ists for republicans. 

The leading measure of Mr. Madison's adminis- 
tration was war with England, which made our 
present nationality, established a system of finance, 
including a National Bank, revised the tariff on 
imports, and provided for paying the national 
debt. He made wise recommendations to Congress 
for the true interests of the country, and was 
uniformly sustained by the republican majority in 
both houses. Mr. Madison revived the custom 
of stated public levees at the White House, which 
had been abolished by Mr. Jefferson. 

Mr. Monroe's administration was styled the 
" era of good feeling." Party acerbity had died 
out, and the people were absorbed in public pros- 
perity. Florida was acquired by treaty with Spain 
under his administration ; the independence of the 
South American States recognized ; the national 
debt was reduced, and the revenues increased. 



224 REVIEW. 

When John Quincy Adams came into power, in 
1825, party spirit again arose more fiercely than 
ever before, and the opposition concentrated upon 
General Jackson. Mr. Adams was sustained 
eighteen months in Congress by a majority ; after 
that, the opposition were in the ascendant, in both 
branches. The peace of the country, however, 
was not interrupted ; commerce flourished, and 
foreign and domestic matters were well conducted. 
The attempt to get free trade with the British 
West Indies failed ; but the resources of the coun- 
try were developed by his policy, internal improve- 
ments advanced, and the tariff was revived. Thirty 
millions of the public debt were paid ; five millions 
were appropriated to pension officers of the Revolu- 
tion. Fourteen millions were expended beside, to 
benefit the country. Mr. Adams made but few 
removals from oCQce, which, however beneficial to 
the public interest, contributed to his defeat. 

General Jackson's administration followed, and 
will ever be one of deep interest to the people, and 
of mark upon the age. 

Under his administration, the national debt was 
extinguished, the people returned to specie cur- 
rency. 



REVIEW. 225 

He refused to sanction a re-cliarter of the United 
States Bank, and removed tlie public deposits from 
its vaults, wliicli effected its destruction. He 
vetoed Mr. Clay's Land Bill, and other internal 
improvement bills. General Jackson's friends 
claim that he arrested extravagant speculations, 
but they have failed to furnish the proof. 

Mr. Van Buren's administration carried out 
General Jackson's views of the Sub-Treasury, 
and continued his cabinet in ofl&ce. 

He made but few changes and appointments. 
His administration was supported by a majority in 
the Senate, but was sometimes in a minority in 
the lower House of Congress. Under his adminis- 
tration, in 1837, one thousand financiers, mer- 
chants, manufacturers, ship-owners, broke down in 
New York, in less than three weeks, and forty 
thousand more throughout the country. Failures 
were thus caused to the amount of five hundred 
millions ! and involved the banks and the States 
themselves for several following years. 

In this great reversion of trade and finance, the 

social calamity of the country was unparalleled. 

The wealthy fell to penury. Widows and orphans, 

left with a competency, were driven to want. 

20 



226 EE\^Ew. 

Honest working men, who supported their wives 
and children upon their daily wages, were thrown 
out of employment. The savings of years were 
swept off at a blow, and the prospects of many 
were ruined forever. 

Americans, you will reasonably inquire, What 
caused this financial, commercial and social revo- 
lution ? 

It was the mercenary spirit of Van Buren's 
administration, which had, for years before, infused 
its poison over the entire country. It was Van 
Buren's administration which made the first over- 
tures to the political Roman Catholic Church. It 
was the shameful recklessness of his partisans to 
procure votes which caused the public plunder 
under his administration, and became paramount 
to commerce, finance, manufactures, justice and 
honor. William L, Marcy was the leader then, 
whose cardinal creed has been to plunder the 
public treasure, when in power. 

John Tyler's administration was noted for vetoes 
of National Bank bills, and other measures on 
which General Harrison had been elected Presi- 
dent. Through the energy and ability of Mr. 
Webster the North-Eastern Boundary question 



REVIEW. 227 

was amicably adjusted with England. Texas was 
annexed by Congress, and its final admission into 
the Unipn as a State was the last act of his ad- 
ministration. A revision of the tariff occurred at 
that period ; and the Whig majority in Congress, 
with which he went into office, was superseded by 
large Democratic majorities, the last two years of 
his administration. 

James K. Polk's epoch was marked by the war 
with ]\Iexico, and the consequent annexation of 
California and Xew Mexico, the settlement of the 
Oregon question with the English government, the 
establishment of a Sub-Treasury, a revision of the 
tariff on imports, with ad valorem duties, a ware- 
house policy, and also the Department of the Inte- 
rior was created. Mr. Polk's Democratic majority 
in the first Congress under his administration, 
yielded to a small Whig majority in the last two 
years of his administration. 

Millard Fillmore came into office upon the death 
of President Taylor, in the summer of 1850. The 
Compromise measures were then passed, and the 
slavery agitation checked. California was admit- 
ted as a State. The Texas boundary was settled. 
Public confidence was restored. Commerce pros- 



228 REVIEW. 

perecl ; peace prevailed ; and his administration 
spread universal contentment among all classes of 
the people. No internal dissensions agitated the 
public mind. A large surplus was idle in the treas- 
ury, and his administration shed untarnished lustre 
over the whole country. Under these brilliant 
national advantages, Mr. Fillmore left the presiden- 
tial office, followed by the respect, confidence, and 
gratitude of the American people, who had reason 
to bless the providence of God, which interposed for 
their deliverance, in making him President. 

Mr. Fillmore came into power with both houses 
of Congress in the opposition, and calmly and 
steadily held the helm of the government, unaided 
by that prestige. 

And now, Americans, in taking this hasty but 
authentic survey of the several administrations of 
the general government, you cannot but remark 
how much the character of the 7nan has to do with 
that of his administration. 

Take the social, moral, intellectual, and politi- 
cal character of Washington, as he entered upon 
the government ; dwell upon the actions of his 
administration ; compare its results and bearings, 
while he looked abroad, to the protection of all the 



REVIEW. 229 

interests and rights of the people. Follow on 
successively to Fillmore, and judge who possesses 
more suitahle qualifications, more personal integ- 
rity, higher sense of national honor and patriotism, 
to fill the elevated office, after Washington, of the 
chief magistrate of the nation. The name of Fill- 
more will adorn the page of our American history, 
and be transmitted to posterity as one of the most 
successful and illustrious successors of Washington. 
On the 4th of March, 1853, when Franklin 
Pierce assumed the government of these United 
States, the whole world was at peace. England, 
France, Austria, and Prussia, were quiet. Hun- 
gary had been split in pieces, and was prostrate. 
Italy was lying unresistingly at the feet of the 
papal throne. Nicholas was studying the expan- 
siveness of Anglo-American liberty ; and nothing 
remained to remind Europe of the convulsions of 
'48 and '9 but some pending negotiations between 
the Sultan of Turkey and the Czar. In Asia there 
was the same still monotony. In Africa, Liberia 
was flourishing under practical Clu-istian beneA'O- 
lence ; thouii'h England had demonstrated her 
hypocrisy by assaulting Algiers, silencing Egypt 
and Morocco, and leaving the Cape of Good Hope 
20* 



230 REVIEW. 

to an intestine war. In 1852, Franklin Pierce 
received the nomination of the Democratic Balti- 
more Convention, and stood erect upon the middle 
plank of that platform as its Union candidate ! 

He had zealously labored to obtain the nomina- 
tion, and, in a contest for the selection among so 
many leaders of that party, his friends had long 
cherished the idea that there was hope of the ob- 
scure New Hampshire candidate, upon the princi- 
ple of compromise and the Union. Twenty dele- 
gates in all had, by stratagem, been secured for 
Pierce in that Convention, as a reserved corps; 
and for days before it convened in .Baltimore, out- 
side influences were zealously engaged in the at- 
tempt to swell that number. 

In the mean while Mr. Pierce was at home, pre- 
paring to " surprise " himself by writing a letter, 
declaring, in the face of the fact, as his friends 
knew, that he was not before the Convention. 

Believing he was honest in his love for the Union, 
twenty-seven states voted for him. And the people 
rendered a verdict in favor of Democracy unparal- 
leled since the days of Mr. Monroe ; giving Frank- 
lin Pierce 254 electoral votes out of the 29G which 
were then cast for the Presidency ! 



REVIEW. 231 

Never, since the Declaration of Independence, 
had the Union numbered so many adherents ; and 
even the opponents of Mr. Pierce acquiesced, on 
the o'round that it was a 2:lorious decision of the 
American people, not for Franklin Pierce, but for 
the Union and the compromise upon which he had 
been elected. They had nailed our flag tp the 
mast of liberty, and it floated gracefully in the 
national breeze. On the 4th of March, 1S53, Mr. 
Pierce assumed the official duties of Chief Magis- 
trate of the United States. The people honestly 
believed that it was theii' sovereign voice that had 
called him to that post. But Mr. Pierce, who 
knew more of the particulars of his own nomina- 
tion and election, and the fraud which had secured 
both, attributed his success mainly to the foreign 
vote of the Roman Catholic Church, for which he 
had most unscrupulously sold himself to secure his 
election. For this purpose, he received the aid of 
his adroit friend, Hon. James Buchanan, of Penn- 
sylvania, who made the bargain with the foreign 
hierarchy, and is now the so-called Democratic 
candidate for the succession. 

When Mr. Pierce was called upon by the Chief 
Justice to swear " to preserve, protect, and defend 



232 REVIEW. 

the Constitution," it is said he discarded the time- 
honored fashion of all our former Presidents, and 
said, " I solemnly affirm ; " and instead of rever- 
ently kissing the Blessed Word, as all his prede- 
cessors had done, he merely raised his right hand 
and held it aloft, in the presence of the spectators, 
uutil.the pledge was given. Thus his first act was 
[in ohsequiousness to the Romish hierarchy, to 
propitiate which he insulted the feelings of 
Protestants, who regard as sacred God's eternal 
Book. 

But the nation was jubilant with joy. Ilis 
inaugural was filled to overflowing with love for 
the Union. He announced that every citizen 
should be protected, from one end of it to the other ; 
that on every sea and on every soil where our 
enterprise might rightfully carry the American 
flag, there American citizenship should be an invio- 
lable pledge for the security of American rights. 
He pledged himself to the doctrine that while 
national expansion was inherent to our existence 
as a nation, it was only to be accomplished in 
accordance with - good faith and national honor ; 
and was, therefore, opposed to any unlawful attempt 
to seize Cuba by force, however desirable its acqui- 



REVIEW. 233 



sition. He declared, as a fundamental principle, 
that American rights rejected all foreign coloniza- 
tion on this side of the Atlantic. He spoke of the 
army and navy, and of the great reserve of the 
national militia, as sacredly to be cherished. He 
declared that integrity and rigid economy should 
be the watchwords in all the departments of the 
government ; that the offices of the country should 
be considered solely in reference to the duty to be 
performed ; that good citizens who filled them 
might expect, and should claim, the benefit of his 
government ; that he had no implied engagements 
to ratify, no resentments to remember, no personal 
wishes to consult, in his selections for office ; and 
therefore the people must not recognize any claim 
to office for having voted for him ! He announced 
two great principles of constitutional doctrine, on 
the rights of the states separately, and their com- 
mon rights under the Constitution. He declared 
it the duty of each one of the states to respect the 
rights of every ' one of the states, and citizens 
thereof, and the obligations of the general govern- 
ment to protect these. He affirmed it as his solemn 
creed, and with an air of assumed energy and bold- 
ness, that involuntary servitude, as it existed in 



234 REVIEW. 

differPiit sections of the Union, was an admitted 
constitutional right ; and that the Compromise 
laws weve to be kept inviolate in the spirit of 
national fraternity between the North and the 
South. He declared this to be the test of loyalty 
to the American Union. In a word, Pierce entered 
the presidency pledged to principles on which the 
Union was founded ; pledged to the compromises 
of the constitution ; pledged to protect American 
citizens in all their rights and privileges ; pledged 
to go for an extension of our republic only when 
it could be done in an honorable way, and at a 
proper time ; pledged to retrenchment and reform 
in all the departments of the government ; pledged 
to protect all the governmental officials who were 
faithful to the duties of their office, without reoard 
to party considerations. But, in spite of all these 
promises of the inaugural, our republic, the great 
safeguard of democratic freedom, soon felt the 
pressure of faithless fratricidal hands. The Union 
ngain became the common battle-ground. The 
altar fires were kindled by agitation and civil dis- 
cord. The canker at the root of our domestic 
peace became the curse to array man against man, 
state against state, the North against the South ! 



REVIEW. 235 

And the people soon saw that Gesler, or one of 
the Tavf|uins, vrould have been as well suited to 
head the American army in the place of Washing- 
ton, as was Franklin Pierce to administer this 
government in the spirit of his supposed love of 
the Union, and on which alone, regardless of his 
want of natural or adventitious greatness, he had 
been elected to office. 

His Cabinet, instead of judicious advisers, be- 
came his abettors in evil. The people tried to for- 
get the antecedents of the members of his Cabinet, 
which seemed at once to portend disaster, and they 
silently acquiesced, without a murmur from their 
devoted lips. The press, which had been the great 
instrument of bringing the administration into 
power, still insisted, after it had been chosen, that 
Pierce was not the man " to keep the promise to 
the ear, and break it to the hope." At the North 
and the South, collectors, mail-agents, and the post- 
officers, disunion men were invariably selected; 
and the anti- American principle was soon apparent 
in government patronage at home and abroad. He 
sent Gadsden, of South Carolina, — who had advo- 
cated the dissolution of the Union, — as Minister 
to Mexico. He removed Grayson, of Carolina, 



236 REVIEW. 

who went for it, and put Colcock in his place, who 
had counselled taking arms against the general 
government. He gave the consulship of Havana 
to Clayton, of Mississippi, who was defeated before 
the people because he went for disunion. He sent 
Trousdale, of Tennessee, to Brazil, who had been 
defeated before the people on the same issue. He 
gave Borland, who opposed the compromise, the 
mission to Central America. He sent Soule, a 
French Jacobin, and a disunionist, to Spain ; and 
sent men to Denmark and Sardinia holding the 
same sentiments. 

When Americans remember that it was from the 
rejection of Mr. Slidell, as Minister to Mexico, 
pending the Texas annexation, that the Mexican 
war arose, they can judge with what expectations 
Mr. Soule went to Spain. AJiUibustcro, with fif- 
teen millions, and war for Cuba ! 

Mr. Belmont, another foreigner, an agent for 
the Rothschilds, was sent to represent our govern- 
ment at tlie Hague. He was a successful financier 
in Wall-street, New York. And it has never been 
denied that he gave a large amount of money to 
elect Pierce, with the stipulation that he should 
have his present place to give the Rothschilds 



REVIEW. 237 

certain political iiiilLiuiico in American affairs. 
Belmont was ex-consul for Austria ; and when 
Mr. Webster droA'c off Ilulseman, that inveterate 
foe to our institutions, this foreign minister left 
Belmont in charge of his official duties, to act for 
him. It is a well-established fact that Austria 
takes the lead in Europe in conspiring against 
American liberty, in connection with the Romish 
hierarchy. Thus, without a single sympathy with 
democratic republican freedom, we are nominally 
represented by a foreign aristocrat. Mr. Robert 
Dale Owen, at Naples, a socialist from Indiana, 
who conducted a paper in connection with that 
infidel virago, Fanny Wright, was sent to the 
court of Naples. 

The talent of the country was largely at the 
command of Mr. Pierce. He needed men, Ameri- 
can patriots, to protect the republican principle 
abroad, more than ever before ; men, to protect 
our citizens, and to see that their interests and 
their rights were duly regarded, and our commer- 
cial and political advantages secured. 

Louis Napoleon was known to be watching and 
plotting against us. He had practised iniquitous 
exactions on American vessels, put enormous duties 
21 



238 REVIEW. 

on American produce, and excluded Americans from 
the shores of France, while we were encouraging 
Frenchmen to come to our own. Under these cir- 
cumstances we needed a chief magistrate who had 
energy and spirit to look into these matters, — one 
who would insist on the reduction of tonnage, cus- 
tom-house duties, and produce rates which corres- 
pond with those put upon their subjects by us ; 
and in all our foreign embassies we required repre- 
sentatives of the first respectability for talent, moral 
character, and intelligence, who would transmit 
correct information on all subjects which concerned 
the nation, that it might understand whether the 
diiference was for or against Americans, — in short, 
that it might understand how America, in every 
aspect, stands ahead, by the facts and statistics. 

It was not until late in July following the 
advent of Mr. Pierce, that a single appointed diplo- 
mat left our shores ; the government all the 
while paying two sets of representatives. Kossuth, 
even, assails the administration for this, and calls 
it " a degradation of national dignity, bordering 
upon the ridicule, if not the contempt, of the civil- 
ized world." For six months the "spoils" en- 
grossed the entire attention of the administration. 



REVIEW. 230 

Mr. Pierce was determined to eject from office 
every opponent of his policy — to allow no liberty 
of political opinion contrary to his own. He 
gleaned the states of every vestige of opposition iu 
those dependent on him, in order to gratify his 
selfish mind. Not a fifty-dollar office under the 
government escaped his vigilant eye. 

Mr. Campbell, the Postmaster General, had 
been a candidate for judgeship, under the first 
election for that office, by the people in Pennsyl- 
vania. The bar of Philadelphia, city and county, 
knew him well, and they came out, over their 
own signatures, and declared his unfitness. But 
Mr. Buchanan had bargained with the Romish 
hierarchy to make this man a member of the 
Cabinet, on which condition the Jesuits had prom- 
ised to make him successor to Pierce ; and hence 
all the true and good men of Pennsylvania were 
set aside to make way for this Jesuit to fill the high 
and responsible office of Postmaster General. When 
the Democrats of Pennsylvania heard it, they 
addressed a letter to Pierce, and earnestly remon- 
strated ; but he had been guided by Buchanan's 
dictation ; the Pope had signified acceptance of 
his appointment ; and not the united voice of the 



240 REVIEW. 

Democracy in all the States, or Mr. Pierce's wish 
to the contrary, could then have prevented it. In 
spite of his incompetency, Campbell was appointed 
by Mr. Pierce to satisfy the Roman Catholic 
Church. The political value of every post-office in 
this country was then sought out, and laid before 
Campbell, by his agents, who were sent into the 
states when the office was too obscure to bring 
the applicant to Washington. To be opposed to 
the American creed, and to act out Popish big- 
otry, have been the cardinal principles on which 
he started into office ; thus establishing a system 
of espionage upon all the mailable matter of the 
American people, in exact conformity with the 
established usage of the Eoman Catholic countries 
of Europe. 

In the custom-houses, weighers, gangers, tide- 
waiters, messengers, and watchmen, were required 
to be true to Mr. Pierce, and were removed for 
loyalty to the Union and the American policy. 
The New York collector was addressed by official 
letter, from the Secretary of the Treasury, interfer- 
ing with the politics of that state, and requiring 
him to provide for the especial friends of the 
administration. This called forth popular indig- 



REVIEW. 241 

nation over the land. And Mr. Bronson, acting 
ont the independence of an American, was dis- 
placed from office. This same financier, at the 
head of the Treasury, declared that "no man 
stood, at that day, so high before the American 
people as Mr. Pierce, save and except one, the 
immortal Washington ! " This sycophancy vras a 
subject of perfect ridicule to the American people. 
The energy and enterprise of our merchants 
have built up foreign commerce. They have 
augmented our imports and exports, and opened 
new channels of communication for our benefit. 
They are best fitted for the revenue and postal 
service of the country, but they have been always 
overlooked, under this administration, for politi- 
cians without standing or eminence. The diplo- 
matists abroad have been, and are, under this 
administration, men generally of this class, both 
ministers and consulates. The latter, except at 
Liverpool and Havana and a few other places, are 
so inadequately paid by fees, that their time is 
given to private enterprise and speculation for 
personal advantage, while the commerce of the 
country is almost totally neglected. Italians, 
Irish, Germans, Frenchmen, have been largely 
21* 



242 REVIEW. 

benefited by this class of appointments, under Mr. 
Pierce, to the detriment of tlie country. Small 
men, everywhere, were put into ofiice ; men who 
" spat upon the platform," like the President, and 
yet called it the gospel of their political faith. 

In less than twenty days after Mr. Pierce went 
into office, he was declared the vacillating tool of 
his Cabinet, who governed instead of advised, 
directed instead of consulted him. On the 30th 
of November, nine months after he swore, before 
God and his country, to sustain the compromise 
measures of 1850, wdiicli gave immortality to Clay, 
Calhoun, and Webster, he publicly ignored them, 
through the columns of the " Union,'' his organ at 
Washington ; and declared that the course of this 
government would not be in accordance with the 
"laws of adjustment" of 1850 ! That compact 
which had been, in the judgment of the country, 
above party, above intrigue, above political bar- 
gaining, and solemnly held sacred, had been ridi- 
culed, despised, and set aside, and the flood-gates 
of turmoil and political contention opened again 
^ all over the land ! What contrition, what confes- 
sion, what penance, can cover tliis iniijuity and 
wipe out this foul stigma of Franklin Pierce ? He 



REVIEW. 243 

gave our secrets to our enemies, and then parted 
with our national honor ! This is a deep and burn- 
ing shame ! Contemning the moral sentiments of 
the country by which he was elevated, he thus 
counteracted all the fruits of Mr. Clay's patriotism, 
and that of his associates in 1850. And all 
moral obligation of the government being now 
repudiated, it had no other acknowledged principle 
than that of public plunder. 

Before the next meeting of Congress an article 
appeared in Mr. Pierce's organ, which threatened 
the action of the Senate on his appointments ; and 
declared to the senators that except a vote for 
rejectioji was given on valid, sound, and tenable 
grounds, ^^ they should have reason for personal 
and political regret forever.'' For the first time in 
our national history were senators of Congress 
ever menaced by a President ! Louis Napoleon 
of France, nor Victoria of England, could dare to 
do so much ! It was not enough to interfere with 
the local politics of the free states through his 
cabinet, nor to remove every postmaster who 
loved the Union ; but by a complicity between 
the President and his Union organ, he defies and 
threatens the very men whom the constitution 



244 REVIEW. 

empowers to pass sentence on his acts, and without 
whose concurrence the most of these acts would be 
nullities. It had a degree of absolutism which be- 
longed only to the Bey of Tunis, or the Roman 
hierarchy ; for nothing like it ever before eman- 
ated from an American President, or an independ- 
ent press. 

Congress met in December, 1853, with very 
large democratic majorities in both houses, reach- 
ing one hundred in the House of Representatives. 
The Clerk was, therefore, selected to suit the Presi- 
dent's choice. The outside influence was unusu- 
ally great, and the contingent fees of several hun- 
dred thousand dollars at the discretion of the Clerk 
was at least a circumstance, at that period. 

The Doge of Venice, by custom, marries that 
city to the sea ; but the sea rolls as free as before. 
So the people who had cast their votes for Pierce 
were not to be bound by the ceremony of the act 
of his election, and they no longer felt it an obli- 
gation to support his administration. They saw 
he had got in on a false issue ; that he was an em- 
bodied falsehood, and nothing more. Proof was 
now adduced which fixed another item of fact in 
Mr. Pierce's history, viz., that he had sympathized 



REVIEW. 245 

with the election of Martin Van Buren, in 1848, 
instead of General Cass, the nominee of the party 
to which he professed attachment. — That he did 
write a letter in reply to an invitation to attend a 
convention of Van Burcn's friends, in New York, 
favorable to his election, which was in the hands 
of an ojQTice-holder, and was known to the public 
as the scarlet letter, on account of its treachery. — 
That the parties, being in office under Mr. Pierce, 
were delicately situated, and, while they confessed 
to the fact, did not expose it. — And that, not one 
only, but various letters were acknowledged to 
exist of the same import; while the "Patriot," 
Mr. Pierce's organ in New Hampshire, and known 
to reflect his sentiments, had steadily opposed the 
Compromise, until it was about to be made the law 
of the land. 

The whole course of Mr. Pierce was an open 
and full confession that he had not the moral 
honest)^ or the physical courage to stand to the 
principles on which he was elected. 

At a time when, to prevent the absorption of 
Turkey by Russia, we needed a man of power to 
speak the sentiments of the United States, and to 
establish a new Christian power at Constantinople, 



246 REVIEW. 

a third-rate Baltimore lawyer was sent to represent 
our government. At China, too, we wanted men 
familiar with the detail of trade, and possessing 
an intimate knowledge of the condition of things 
on the Pacific. But, while we needed a repre- 
sentative man, one of similar grade was sent there. 

Circulars regulating the dress of our foreign 
ambassadors seemed more to engross the adminis- 
tration than matters affecting the great interests of 
the country. Buchanan and Sandford alone followed 
the orders of the Secret^ ^y of State ; and, it being 
a novel circular, it attracted some attention. 

The Senate committee on foreign relations de- 
sired to know what directions were given to 
diplomatists about getting admission in the costume 
of Franklin. In answer to Mr. Mason, the chair- 
man of the Senate committee, Marcy proposed a 
repeal of the costume order, and counselled a 
"masterly inactivity." 

In the face of all the gold from California and 
Australia, the credit of the country was soon forced 
by the administration beyond its natural bounds ; 
and the same havoc as that which occurred under 
Van Buren, in 1837, when the government was 
plundered by officers of millions, in the name of 



REVIEW. 247 

the States, was seen to he approaching. The 
Secretary of the Treasnry bought up securities 
with bonds of the government, which had fifteen 
years to run, and shipped the specie to Europe in 
payment of evidences of debt in that quarter, 
when there was not the slightest necessity, thus 
fixing an enormous amount as the price by which 
government bonds should be redeemed. Paper 
circulation increased beyond that under Van Bu- 
ren, in 1837. All sorts of credit expanded. Im- 
ports were swelled from thirty to fifty millions. 
And by the mismanagement of the surplus reve- 
nues of the government, in connection with the 
abstraction of specie to send to Europe, came the 
terrible crash to credit, commerce, and manufac- 
tures, in 1854 and 1855, when so many honest 
operatives, men and Avomen, were starving in the 
streets, and compelled to accept public charity. 

In the mean while, sectional agitations were 
within, and foreign relations threatened without. 

The administration, instead of advocating the 
use of money from the treasury, recommended land 
grants, and this has caused such plunder and spoil, 
such plucldng and snapping up of the public lands. 

The Gadsden Treaty with Mexico caused the 



248 REVIEW. 

outlay of twenty millions, wliich excluded us from 
the rich silver mines of Chihuahua, and served no 
better purpose than to set up Santa Anna in Mex- 
ican style. 

The distribution of the spoils, the appointments 
of partisans, and the interference in the local 
politics of the States to defeat the free will of the 
people, had rendered Pierce's administration odi- 
ous, and surprised even its worst enemies by its 
enormities, when the Koszta letter of Marcy was 
written to make a show of its adherence to Ameri- 
can nationality. This act of vindication was done 
after Koszta had been released by Capt. Ingraham, 
aided and supported by Mr. Brown. But the best 
evidence of sincerity in this declaration Avas fur- 
nished four weeks subsequent to that letter, when 
three American citizens, Wm. Freelum, Wm. Ai- 
kins, and Harvey C. Parks, sailors, were confined 
in prison at Havana. These three men sailed from 
New York, in the bark Jasper, on a trading 
voyage to Sierra Leone. The ship was diverted 
from its proper channel of trade without the ngen- 
cy of these poor sailors ; and, to escape British 
cruisers, she was finally burnt to the water's edge. 
These three men, in landing for supplies, were put 



REVIEW. 249 

on a Spanish war schooner, Ilabanero, and taken to 
Havana and lodged in Punta prison. The case 
was laid before the government at Washington in 
July, 1853. One was an Irishman, another a 
Scotchman, the other an American, but all citizens 
of the United States. But they were only sailors, 
and could exert no influence for Mr. Pierce's 
government ; and, so far from acting on their case, 
the administration did not ^even inquire into the 
matter ! And this is Mr. Pierce's inaugural pro- 
tection ! 

Capt. Gibson was also treated shamefully at 
Sumatra by the Dutch. He asked redress of the 
national government in vain. " Is he worth pro- 
tecting?" is and has been the rule of action. 
AVhen the press made this apparent in Gibson's 
case, and not before, he received some considera- 



'? 



tion in his behalf. Again, there was Frederick 
Wiechee, a Saxon, who came to the United States 
in 1851, remained some time, and returned tempo- 
rarily to Leipsic, in Germany, where he sufTercd 
imprisonment, but finally escaped. The case was 
exactly parallel with that of Koszta ; yet the 
administration, who professed a will to protect the 

one, refused to interfere with the other. Williams 
22 



250 REVIEW. 

and Miller, American citizens, were defrauded and 
injured by the government of Granada, and Miller 
was imprisoned for claiming his just rights under 
that government. The matter was laid before the 
administration without eliciting any attention. 
All the above cases illustrate the value of the 
promise of protection in the Inaugural Address. 

In the summer of 1853, Bishop Hughes, a 
political Jesuit and demagogue, had the steamer 
Michigan placed at his disposal at Mackinaw, 
which actually conveyed this foreign Roman pre- 
late from place to place on business of the Romish 
hierarchy ; thus using a government vessel, at 
the government's expense, to gratify the arrogant 
vanity of this liege subject of the Pope of Rome ! 
It presented to the citizens and true patriots of 
America a most degrading example of the abject 
sycophancy to which a President of the United 
States would stoop to get the patronage of this 
intermeddling Jesuit, and, through him, the votes 
of the body of the Irish papists. A question arises 
here. lias the President a right to employ United 
States vessels, and the treasure of the country, for 
such personal and sinister purposes? No — it is 
an outrage on the rights of the people, and a gross 



REVIEW. 251 

f 

insult to the nation. Tlie same steamer, afterwards, 
was placed at the disposal of the Pope's Nuncio, 
Bedini, who travelled with Bishop Hughes. He 
came with congratulatory letters to Pierce from the 
Pope. 

The Pope sent Bedini, not to represent his 
government here, but to see to the church, and 
further its papal interests in the United States. 
To fasten on this nation of freemen its corrupt 
dogmas and despotism was the sole object of the 
Nuncio. Pierce did all in his power to facilitate 
that mission, and caused Captain Bigclow to dis- 
honor tlie American flag, by publicly escorting the 
Jesuit butcher who had condemned that noble 
patriot, Ugo Bassi, to be flayed alive and then 
shot, for no other crime than a sympathy for 
republican liberty in Italy. 

Early in January following the advent of ]\Ir. 
Pierce, the "Nebraska Bill," intended to repeal 
the great compromise effected chiefly by the efforts 
of the illustrious statesman, Henry Clay, in 1850, 
was concocted by Senator Stephen A. Douglas 
and Pierce, and reported to the Senate by the 
.former. The whole country, which by the previ- 
ous adjustment of 1850 had settled down in peace. 



252 REVIEW. 

was suddenly taken by surprise. No one dreamed 
of tlie compromise being disturbed, and that the 
triumph of Mr. Clay, and the tranquillity happily 
secured by him over the country, were soon to come 
to an end. This measure, so suddenly sprung upon 
the country, aroused a feeling of the highest indig- 
nation. It opened anew the slavery discussion 
and agitation from one end of the country to the 
other. It sundered political affiliations, and broke 
the old established parties of Whig and Democrat 
into fragments. 

There were no Franklins, as at the adoption of 
the constitution, no Websters, Clays, or Calhouns, 
as in 1850, to calm the troubled waters. Pierce 
said, in his first message, in relation to the com- 
promise, that "the repose secured to the country 
by acquiescence of distinguished citizens should 
receive no shock during his presidential term." 
Yet, the moment an undue sectional influence was 
exerted, and an opportunity presented to his per- 
sonal ambition, he trampled on the high and sacred 
pledge of his official station, and thus disappointed 
the just expectation of the people, by disturbing 
their tranquillity on a subject so absorbing and 
agitating as the repeal of the Missouri compromise. 



REVIEW. 253 

What added to the indignation of the country was 
the fact that Mr. Pierce changed his position 
from a national President to a narrow politician, 
and abused the patronage of his office by creating 
discord both in and out of Congress ; in encourag- 
ing his intemperate partisans, and bringing for- 
ward men, North and South, who labored to pro- 
mote dissension. 

The magnitude of our national growth, our 
territorial expansion, our shipping, our foreign 
intercourse, had been checked and lowered by 
thrusting men into power who had discredited 
us abroad, and injured our social position, and our 
country, in the eyes of enlightened foreigners. 
Men, devoid of political honesty, who could do 
mean work for the party in their own State, were 
sure to succeed. Office-holders have been made 
to do slaves' labor under this dynasty. Taxed to 
support the party and carry the elections of the 
States, they were sent adrift, as soon as any party 
defection was discovered, although without busi- 
ness or calling, and unfitted to compete with pri- 
vate enterprise. It has been proved, by statistics, 
that more suffering and want have been experienced 
by those " crushed out " of official employment, by 

99* 



254 REVIEW. 

Pierce, than under all tlie previous administrations 
of the government since it was adopted. 

When Mr. Webster was Secretary of State, he 
insisted that all contracts in a foreign land should 
be enforced by the United States Consuls, whether 
money, marriage, or business ; and required 
marriage to conform to the legal mode of the 
country in which it was celebrated. 

The certificate of our Consul at Bremen in rela- 
tion to marriage was made in conformity with the 
Senate of that country, and was the only expedi- 
ent the emigrant could adopt to meet the requisi- 
tions of the New York authorities. Without any 
investigation, the administration declared it good 
cause for removing the consul who liad aranted 
such certificates. This regulation was a judicious 
act of Mr. Filhnore's administration, to enforce vir- 
tue among the immigrant population who were 
thronging to our shores. 

In one year we find Mr. Pierce and his admin- 
istration condemned by the American people, with 
the exception of his particular adherents. He 
had refused to protect American citizens abroad ; 
he had interfered with Cuba, by sending a for- 
eign red republican to the court of Madrid, who 



REVIEW. 255 

got into a duel about a coat, as of paramount 
importance to war ! He had appointed an Aus- 
trian aristocrat to represent us at the Hague ; 
and various other foreigners to personify our 
nationality before foreign powers, and declare this 
nation's mission ; besides scores of domestic poli- 
ticians, without character, learning, or manners. 
He had deliberately abjured the compromise laws, 
and declared that his government would not abide 
the work which Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and tliat 
host of worthies, in 1850, had wisely framed to 
give peace and permanence to the Union. He had 
threatened the Senate of the United States with 
his official vengeance if they dared to reject his 
appointments to ofiice. He had been proved to 
have been, five years before his election, an enemy 
to the political party which elected him, by sup- 
porting Van Buren in the place of General Cass, 
the nominee of the Democratic party. And he 
selected for office the three men who had constituted 
the committee, held in the city of New York, in 
1848, to aid the election of Martin Van Buren. 

He had made Van Buren's administration, called 
the " Spoils Cabinet," the model for imitation ; 
having Van Buren's old leader as Secretary of 



256 REVIEW. 

state, to provide for bis particular friends and 
dispute about tbe pbmder. He imitated tbat 
" Spoils Cabinet" in extravagant expenditures of 
tbe government, and in appointing an inexperi- 
enced financier as Secretary of tbe Treasury ; the 
effect of wbicb was, tbe terrible crusb to credit, 
commerce, and labor of tbe country, in '54 and '55. 
At a time wben tbese and tbe social condition 
of tbe country were in peril, Mr. Gutbrie inflicted 
a blow upon tbe nation by buying up, to an unex- 
ampled amount, tbe securities of tbe government, 
and sending tbe specie to Europe. Tbe issuing of 
millions upon millions of bonds, witbout a basis of 
payment, was wbat caused England's terrible 
revulsion in 1825, and wbicb sbould bave been a 
warning to our government. Our relations with 
Mexico, our relations with Spain, tbe fisbery ques- 
tion, were all set aside by tbe administration to 
practise its political sagacity in tbe local politics of 
tbe several States. Tbe versatile genius of Mr. 
Cusbing, tbe Attorney General, wbo bad sbifted 
from tbe AVbigs to Jobn Tyler, from Tyler to tbe 
Coalitionists, and from tbem to Pierce, was em- 
ployed to interfere witb tbe politics of jNIississippi 
as well as those of Massachusetts ; and this polit- 



REVIEW. 257 

ical interference he called an " administration meas- 
ure," to defeat the Union candidate. A similar 
action occurred to secure disunion leaders in Geor- 
gia and Alabama. In New York, it had removed 
an honorable and high-minded collector for having 
selected men to fill offices under him who were 
true to the Union. This brought down the denun- 
ciation of her Dickinson, her Maurice, her Cooley, 
and other distinguished patriots. 

In the forty or fifty thousand offices of the coun- 
try Mr. Pierce has made loyalty to the administra- 
tion the sole test of merit. The spoils of millions 
have been used to corrupt the country and foster 
agitation ; and the nomination and election of 
Franklin Pierce, by the preceding course of his 
political managers, evidently proved a fraud upon 
the country, which had been grossly deceived. 

Worthless Mexican treaties, absorbing millions 
of money, were wantonly made by the administra- 
tion. It created the most extraordinary plunder 
among the public lands, by recommending land 
grants. A clerk in the lower house of Congress 
w^as appointed through the especial dictation of 
Mr. Pierce. In fine, those who entertained the 



258 REVIEW. 

views of the foreio'ii-liearted executive, or ac- 
knowleclged the supreme power of the Pope of 
Rome, and would secure tlie votes of his Irish 
subjects, were the sure favorites of Mr. Pierce 
and his administration. The press of the coun- 
try soon deserted the man who had deserted his 
principles. 

Pliny, while looking at the agitation of Vesu- 
vius, and disregarding the danger, was overwhelmed 
alive, with the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. 
So when, at the close of the first year of the Pierce 
administration, the lava of political misrule and ruin 
having begun to overspread the land. Pierce looked 
upon the eruption unconscious of the danger to 
himself, or the magnitude of the mischief and evils 
he had brought upon his indignant and deceived 
countrymen. As if a blasting sirocco had swept 
over the land, or an earthquake had shaken it, 
noise and civil discord were rampant, and agitation 
and confusion shook the very foundations of the 
White House. But, amid tliis murky atmosphere, 
the roaring thunder of a people outraged, the 
lightning flash which might terrify any but a neo- 
phyte or political automaton, there stood one man 



REVIEW. 259 

listless and unmoved, reproved, rebuked, with the 
kindling curses of a nation around and upon him, 
and a responsibility so awful that it might over- 
whelm an angel, — and that man was Pierce. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SECOND YEAR OF PIERCE's AD^HXISTRATION. 

On the 20tli of August, 1847, Gen. Scott de- 
feated the Mexicans before the gates of the capi- 
tal, in a bloody battle, and expelled them. Santa 
Anna asked for an armistice, and it was granted for 
seven days by Scott. The perfidious dictator, Santa 
Anna, deserved no such magnanimity from Ameri- 
cans ; and the battles of Chapultepec, Molino del 
Key, and the Garitas, were the bloody price of 
such concessions. So, now, while recurring to the 
train of evils which Franklin Pierce has brought 
upon the country, we cannot wipe out the dark 
stain which he has put upon our national honor ; 
nor can we refrain from holding him and his advis- 
ers to strict and awful responsibility for those 
deeds of mal-administration which have filled with 
indignation every lover of his country. And, re- 
curring to Santa Anna, it is our solemn duty 
to warn the people against the example of his 




"■V- 



(p^.,^^ ^^ 



OF rEUNBSSEB 



REVIEW. 261 

trciicheiy, and urging them not to cease hostilities 
against the heinous acts and dangerous policy of 
this administration. Let our countrymen improve 
the bitter experience, through which they have 
passed and are passing, to save the Union and the 
land from all the horrors of an intestine war. 

Less than one year had fully demonstrated the 
irreparable error of the American people in elect- 
ing a man as their chief magistrate, without charac- 
ter or antecedents. No high sense of honor, no 
principle of action, controlled the policy of his 
administration. Aliens and leaders of treacherous 
factions, who compose the influential corps around 
the executive, have given power to agitation, and, 
in the room of a patriotic love of country, have 
substituted the degrading afi6.nities of grovelling 
peculators. 

After the scarlet letter was found out, and it had 

passed into history that the President had written 

two sets of letters, — one for the North and another 

for the South, — he announced through his organ 

at Washington, that all office-holders must support 

the "Nebraska Bill," which would be made the 

test of Democracy ! He did this to appease the 

South, when, in fact, the South never demanded 
23 



2(32 REVIEW. 

nor desired the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. 
When the New Hampshire elections were about to 
take place, the policy shifted ; hut his friends and 
neighbors were no longer deceived in the matter. 
His native state, which had given him a majority 
of six thousand votes eighteen months before, 
utterly condemned his administration in the elec- 
tion of a new Legislature ! But such was his 
deficiency in political sagacity, he enlisted more 
ardently in the success of the Nebraska iniquity 
than ever before. 

About this time the Black Warrior, bound for 
New York, from Mobile, Avith a cargo of cotton, 
touched at Havana on the voyage, where she was 
seized, on the plea that the cotton did not appear 
on the manifest, and forcibly retained. The custom- 
house officei-s had prescribed a convenient form of 
manifest, which had been used by the Black War- 
rior for eighteen months previous without molesta- 
tion. The Crescent City, too, commanded by 
Capt. Baxter, on her trip to New Orleans, had 
been similarly treated, the passengers forced to 
remain, and the ship prevented from entering the 
port, on another equally flimsy pretext. A special 
messenger was sent to Spain to Soule in reference 



i)/'0 



REVIEW. '2(31- 

to the Black Wurrior, but the people had not faitli 
to believe that the policy adopted by the adminis- 
tration would ever be carried out. Then, instead 
of employing the surplus revenue to fit out a suit- 
able navy, the administration were pressing Con- 
gress to give twenty millions of the people's money 
for a comparatively worthless strip of Mexican ter- 
ritory ! 

This single scheme, had it been consummated, as 
the administration wished, would have diverted all 
the surplus from its proper channel, and plundered 
the nation, to support the anti-republican principles 
of an ignominious Mexican despotism. 

Among other singular coincidences which likened 
Pierce's administration to that of Martin Van 
Buren, was the fact that a surplus of twenty-eight 
millions was found in the treasury at the incoming 
of both these men to the chief magistracy of the 
government. 

In three years, under Van Buren, that whole 
amount was filched from the treasury, and squan- 
dered among the States. Six millions were act- 
ually stolen. And the revolution of politics in 
1840 exhibited the just indignation of an outraged 
people. 



264 REVIEW. 

The aggregate amount of spoils in the first Con- 
gress under Pierce's administration was three 
hundred millions by the figures ! This, Americans, 
was the reason, in connection with the scarlet let- 
ter and other misdemeanors, why the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise was cast into Congress ; 
which atrocious act has lighted a flame that all the 
water from Massachusetts Bay to the Gulf of 
Mexico cannot quench. 

The loss of 180,000 votes in an administration 
elected by twenty-seven of the thirty-one states 
soon told its rapid declension. The Senate admin- 
istered its rebuke by rejecting the Gadsden treaty, 
the ofi'spring of the executive, and reducing the 
amount to ten millions. It was evident Pierce 
wanted to take twenty millions of the hard money 
of the people to supply swindlers and speculators 
in railroad companies in a foreign country ; and, at 
the same time, such was his inconsistency, that he 
vetoed a very humane bill for distributing ten mil- 
lions of acres of land among all the states of the 
Union for the unhappy lunatics of the country, 
without taking a dollar from the treasury. This 
philanthropic enterprise for providing for the main- 
tenance and welfare of 31,474 people, either luna- 



REVIEAV. 265 

tics or idiots, in our country, found the constitution 
in its way, and was cast aside by the presidential 
veto ; but no scruple existed for imposing burdens 
on the people to pay for the aggrandizement of a 
Mexican Santa Anna ! To appropriate money for 
internal improvements was considered by Mr. 
Pierce unconstitutional ; while, at the same time, 
it was quite right, in his view, to appropriate lands 
for western railroads ! 

Pending the difficulty with the Black Warrior, 
Americans, travelling in Cuba with their wives and 
daughters, were insulted ; and a party of these, 
riding on the Cero, were compelled to alight and 
kneel in the dust to a small waxen image held by 
a mulatto priest. But our American minister 
Soule, being a foreign Roman Catholic, possessed 
no spirit to exempt from such degrading humiliation 
American men and women ! 

Soule was instructed to lay before the Spanish 

government the demand for reparation in the Black 

Warrior case ; but the demand was made in vain. 

Why? Because Calderon, who knew Pierce and 

the composition of his cabinet, had divested Spain 

from all fear or terror in the delay. 

The people paid the first year of Pierce's admin- 
23* 



266 REVIEW. 

istratioii sixty-eigiit millions on custom dues, and 
twenty-tliree millions more in taxes than were re- 
quired to support the government. Yet not one 
thing was done to reduce the duties the people had 
to pay. In spite of the fact that importers cur- 
tailed their imports, and banks their credit for nine 
months, there were twenty -seven millions more 
brought into the country than the previous year. 
The administration would not allow fewer free arti- 
cles, and thus curtail their power in the treasury. 
Never were the people less able than at that time to 
pay taxes on sugar, coal, and foreign clothing ; but 
the committee in the lower house of Congress 
declined to remove the duties on these, to please 
the President. His financial' policy was to admit 
articles of foreign manufacture free, wliich could 
afford to pay, and causing the absolute necessaries 
to paij, which ought to be free ! 

At the very time twenty millions were used in 
buying up government securities at a heavy pre- 
mium in the fiscal year of 1854, the deficiency 
bill, for the needful expenses of the government, 
had to be cut down one million ! And this, too, 
when a. treaty with a foreign ]Mexican potentate 
was made to please him, by paying millions of 



REVIEW. 267 

money for a worthless strip of land, and the privi- 
lege of fighting the Apaches Indians on our own 
soil ! — for by this treaty the Mexicans got a dis- 
charge from protecting their own frontiers, and left 
Americans to pay ten millions for the humbug ! 
No government on earth ever before purchased 
its own bonds years before maturity, when they 
cost a fifth more than their par value ! 

A project to revise the tarijQf and reduce the 
revenues, was an ingenious scheme to cheat the 
people- Pierce would not allow fewer dutiable 
articles when two hundred and thirty-three millions 
were bringing a revenue to the government of 
forty-five and a half millions, — enough for all its 
expenses ! The first quarter of 1854 brought the 
sum of nineteen millions. Still the battle-ships of 
the naval line were all idle at the Jiavy-yards, and 
no appropriation asked for fitting them for duty. 

Solon Borland's treaty, about this time, with 
Central America, recognizing Nicaragua, and repu- 
diating the Mosquito country, was not even read 
in cabinet. And, the administration leaving Mr. 
Buchanan to his semi-oflicial tour in Europe, to 
enlighten them on foreign afi'airs, turned, its atten- 
tion nearer home, and set about the election of 



2G8 REVIEW. 

Mayor for the city of Washington. The adminis- 
tration candidate had the prestige of the Eoman 
Catholic influence ; and the American party 
indignantly rebuked the President's interference 
with the municipal elections of that city, by elect- 
ing the candidate who represented American prin- 
ciples, and eschewed the foreign hierarchy. 

Not one single press in New York sustained 
Pierce's dynasty in less than fourteen months after 
its advent ! The Postmaster General, Campbell, 
true to the doctrine of the Romish church, was 
busy in restricting knowledge by trying to increase 
the tax on letter postage. To meet a deficiency of 
two millions in that department, the policy was 
attempted of increasing this tax, and reducing sal- 
aries of clerks, — a revenue accruing all the while 
nearly double the necessary expenditures of the 
government. 

In July, 1854, the Cyane, a sloop-of-war, com- 
manded by Capt. Ilollins, who was enjoying pay 
and waiting orders, was directed to proceed in 
haste to San Juan de Nicaragua, called Greytoivn 
in honor of the British colonial secretary. Bor- 
land had communicated to Washington that he had 
been insulted at Grey town, and that passengers 



REVIEW. 269 

efi route to California had also been detained, and 
their property put in peril. riollin.s, on reacliing 
the town, immediately demanded an apology for 
the insult to Borland, and twenty-four thousand 
dollars to indemnify the damage done to the steam- 
ship's company. 

The Nicaraguan authorities refused flatly to 
comply with either of these demands. Ilollins 
then gave them one day to reconsider the matter, 
and they still refused. He then, after providing 
means of transit for those who wished to leave, 
opened the batteries of the Cyane on the town. 
Finding, however, the bombardment would not 
avail, as the houses were constructed of mud and 
palm-leaves, and altogether too flimsy, Hollins de- 
tailed a corps of marines, under Lieut. Pickering, 
who burned the town to the ground ! An English 
man-of-war in the harbor remonstrated against 
this brutal act in vain. And the 12th of July, 
1S54, became the day of a glorious achievement, — 
the burning of Greytown, — in the annals of Pierce's 
regime. Grey town was, in all respects, an Ameri- 
can town. It had been built up by American enter- 
prise. It had, in 1852, elected an American mayor 
and common council, and proceeded to change the 



270 REVIEW. 

constitution to accord with republican views. It 
had only a nominal dependence, therefore, on the 
Mosquito king, whom it was ready at any moment 
to discard. The opening of the transit through 
the country which Americans had obtained against 
British pretensions had caused the early emigra- 
tion from the United States ; and, while Ameri- 
cans waived none of their own rights, as such, all 
the property in Greytown which was not in their 
possession belonged to people with whom they were 
friendly. The United States government had 
recognized the authorities of Greytown as late as 
July, 1853. It became enlisted with peculiar 
interest in its welfare, as being the only spot in 
Central America where civil and religious liberty 
had taken root in the soil, and where the laws were 
as faithfully administered as in the United States. 
The wdiolc conduct in this matter, whether as 
regards Borland, the authorities at Washington, or 
IToUins at the scene of action, is an outrage so de- 
void of all palliation as to demand the condemna- 
tion of the civilized world. Llollins had no more 
right to perpetrate that outrage than he had to 
destroy any town on the Hudson or Mississippi riv- 
ers. It was not only atrociously barbarous, but 



REVIEW. 271 

the administration committed an unlawful act 
against that defenceless village, by making war 
upon it, which the constitution makes a sufficient 
ground for impeachment. Congress, only, not 
President Pierce, is invested with power to declare 
war. Borland divested himself, by his conduct, of 
all official prestige, ana ought to have been pun- 
ished on the spot. lie had interfered with the 
authorities of Gf-reytown in protecting a murderer 
against their efforts to obtain him; and when he 
pointed a loaded rifle at the officer of San Juan, 
lie forgot his own dignity, and contemned the very 
authorities his own government recognized. The 
people very naturally disregarded his official charac- 
ter. It was proven, however, that no attempt was 
made upon the person of Borland, even when an 
indignant people surrounded the house to arrest 
the murderer Borland had harbored. Why did the 
administration select this defenceless town to make 
an exhibition of its belligerent propensities ? For 
the very reason that it was independent, and cut 
off from the protection of England and Nicara- 
gua. And, while the whole civilized world were 
sneering at the game of "hide and seek " which 
Pierce had played so long with Cuba, he caught 



272 REVIEW. 

with eagerness the opportunity offered by Borland's 
misdemeanors, to redeem his own folly by the 
destruction of a defenceless village, "without the 
loss of a single man on either side." 

Pierce's administration inflicted an outrage upon 
Americans in demanding an apology for Borland, 
and in asking an indemnity of twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars for a company owing all its rights and 
privileges to Nicaragua. And for the protection 
of the interests of this steamship company the 
houses and property, as well as ships of Americans, 
were sacrificed by this administration. And, after 
all, no indemnity was given — no apology made ! 

The especial glory of this act is due to President 
Pierce, Marcy, Dobbin, and their loyal employe, 
Hollins, who thus became the hero of the Grey- 
town bombardment. With our fishing interests 
unadjusted, and at the mercy of British cruisers; 
Central America on the verge of ruin ; France tax- 
ing our ships without law ; Spain firing into our 
steamers, Mr. Marcy was busily engaged in giving 
his directions about coats ! Finally, the fishing 
business was discovered to be too complicated for 
Washington diplomacy. So a part of it was handed 
over to London, retaining only that which con- 



REVIEW. 273 

cerned the British Provinces. And the govern- 
ment made so good a bargain in this, that we ad- 
mit their exports free, and let them tax our 
own ! 

News now arrived from Spain that the despatches 
from Washington, in the Black Warrior case, had 
been treated with contempt, and Soule was near 
receiving his passports. All he had done worthy 
of record, in the mean while, was to fight one duel 
himself, and have another fought in his family ! 
Upon the receipt of this intelligence from Spain 
of the Black Warrior case, the President asked 
Congress for ten millions to redress the wrong ! 
When this got to the Senate, from the House, sena- 
tors very properly wanted to know more about it. 
They bore in mind, probably, the Gadsden treaty, 
when Mr. Pierce desired twenty millions, which 
they thought fit to reduce to ten ! This inquiry, 
then, drew forth a paper from the President, which 
showed no war at all, but seemed to want the 
appropriation as a discretionary fund, which the 
Senate, with a democratic majority of fifteen at 
the time, refused to place at the disposal of Mr. 
Pierce ! The Mexican treaty, negotiated by Mr. 

Gadsden, was the only one which passed the Con- 
24 



274 REVIEW. 

gress of 1854, that of right belonged to the 
administration of Franklin Pierce. 

The Japanese treaty originated with the admin- 
istration of INIillard Fillmore, to which only its 
accomplishment properly belongs. Pierce did all 
he possibly could to prevent that achievement, 
which has opened up this new channel to commer- 
cial enterprise. Mr. Dobbin wrote to Commodore 
Perry, in the winter of 1854, that the administra- 
tion did not approve the purpose for which he had 
been sent to the Pacific, and directed him to return 
home immediately, and to send the ships at once 
to New York and Boston. 

He spoke contemptuously of the effort to make 
a treaty Avith Japan, and said it would only 
result in our humiliation. This was evidently 
designed to reflect upon Fillmore and Webster, by 
whom it had been projected. Fortunately the 
despatch of Mr. Dobbin did not reach Commodore 
Perry in time, or the ports of Japan, sealed to all 
but the Chinese and Dutch, would not now have 
been opened by 'American men. 

This order from Pierce's Secretary of the Navy 
to stop Perry from going to Japan, and thus to 
prevent the treaty, was published to the world in 



REVIEW. 275 

the columns of tlie President's organ, tlie Wash- 
ington Union. And, would you believe it, 
Americans, that after the policy of our American 
statesmen, Fillmore and Webster, had proved suc- 
cessful over that of English diplomatists, with whom 
they coped triumphantly, and Commodore Perry 
had made the treaty, the administration organ 
came out and claimed the victory ! 

The colonial reciprocity treaty was also forced 
on Pierce's administration. It began with that of 
Millard Fillmore, and in connection with the settle- 
ment of the fishery question, and was the closing 
official labor of our lamented Webster. The neu- 
trality treaty with Eussia was Russia's proposal 
through Mr. Stockel, the minister from that court. 
Mr. Pierce only did not refuse to accord with that 
view, in his communication to the Senate. . 

The footing of appropriation bills shows that mil- 
lions more were granted by the Congress of 1854 
than ever before in time of peace. In every de- 
partment of the government increased expenditures 
were demanded, and the people's money from 
the treasury lavished to subsidize their free press. 
The Congress of 1854 was essentially a Pierce 
Congress ; and, but for the firmness of senators, 



276 REVIEW. 

would have cost the countiy over one hundred 
millions ! As it was, it escaped with seventy or 
eighty millions, rejecting the item of ten millions, 
which the administration asked without being able 
to tell the people how it was to be applied. 

We find, then, from the records, that the treaty 
with Mexico, speculation in land grants, and the 
burning of Grcytown, by HoUins, which the 
administration endorsed and passed to their own 
account, constituted its signal achievements in the 
Congress of 1854. 

The English, French, and Americans, from Grey- 
town, soon knocked at the door of Congress for 
indemnity ; and the American people saw at what 
dear cost to themselves they had put a man in the 
chair at Washington, to meddle with business which 
did not belong to him, and then leave them to pay 
for the whistle. 

It is well known that Millard Fillmore was the 
man who instituted an investigation into the Gard- 
iner case, and pressed it to a conclusion under his 
district attorney. That officer only received for 
his fidelity and efficiency a removal by Mr. Pierce. 
[n the face of this fact, the organ of this present 



REVIEW. 277 

administration claimed this as a measure of his 
executiye. 

After the New Hampshire antecedents were ex- 
posed, the Atwood speeches seen, the scarlet letter 
read, Mr. Pierce was announced as the father of 
the Nebraska bill, and the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise was called a national measure ! At 
another time, the coming elections required him to 
be less courageous ; and his organ says then, he, 
Mr. Pierce, " only did not oppose it " ! 

Clerks in all the departments were proscribed, 
and ref|uired to sink all individuality as Christians 
and citizens. They were forbidden to hold or 
express a sentiment in opposition to the Eoman 
Catholic hierarchy, which meant to repudiate 
American principles. Pierce proscribed Ameri- 
cans to give place to foreigners, and ejected them 
from office for voting for American men. Exam- 
ples of this course of his political oppression are 
as thick as autumn leaves. God defend our coun- 
try from ever havino" another man as its chief 
magistrate bound to propitiate the papal supremacy 
of a foreign despot ! Pierce has crushed out Pro- 
testants for foreign Roman Catholics, until the land 

groans under the curse. 
24* 



278 REVIEW. 

Grant Thorburn states that he saw Americans, 
who bore honorable scars in our battles, turned out 
of the federal offices in New York to make way for 
fresh Irish voters, who had been driven from their 
country by the Irish Rebellion. But, of all our 
Presidents from the days of Washington, it was 
reserved for Franklin Pierce alone to bargain with 
the Pojje of Rome, who, in pledging papal votes 
through his Jesuit emissaries here, could seize 
the opportunity to spread his- malign influence over 
our beautiful land, and augment the means by which 
he aims to destroy our liberties. 

Mr. Kennedy was removed from the census office 
to prevent the actual number of Romanists from 
being known to the American people. To accom- 
plish this purpose, De Bow, a Catholic, was put in 
his place. The advantage of that post being in 
the power of the foreign hierarchy, Americans can 
very well judge how it has been used. 

On the 30th of August, 1854, Soule demanded 
his passports, and fled from Spain. lie had acted 
with so much indiscretion, that in less than twelve 
months he was compelled to leave to avoid the dis- 
grace of a dismissal, which he apprehended, from 
the Spanish government. 



REVIEW. 279 

The royal family had retreated from his familiar 
approaches ; he then turned to the Jacobin democ- 
racy ; and, that failing him, he rapidly escaped 
to Bayonne. 

Mr. Sickles had been sent, in the mean while, 
to Soule, with a proposal from the administration 
to loan Spain a large sum of money, and take Cuba 
for security. But Soule had left, and better for 
tills country if he had never returned. 

Consider for a moment what a spectacle our 
nation presented to the civilized world. Borland 
shielding a murderer from justice, and causing the 
destruction of a useful seaport town, and a loss of 
several hundred thousand dollars to the treasury ; 
Soule intermeddling with the private interests of 
Spain, and escaping from the country to save an 
expulsion ; Belmont, another foreigner, at the 
Hague, dealing in exchanges, and negotiating a loan 
for the Czar to carry forward his war with the allies. 
This arrangement was only saved from consumma- 
tion by being discovered, through the French minis- 
ter of foreign aifairs, at Paris. 

Others of our foreign ambassadors were engaged 
either in rendering themselves ridiculous by 
discoursing on universal democratic liberty, or 



280 



REVIEW 



seeking subserYiently to conciliate crowned des- 
pots. 

While American nationality was thus figuring 
abroad, a meeting, principally of office-holders and 
office-seekers, came off at "Washington city, "to 
express unbounded confidence in the wisdom, patri- 
otism, and integrity, of President Pierce's adminis- 
tration." Prominent among t^iose who officiated 
on that occasion appear the city postmaster, the 
navy agent, the district attorney, naval store- 
keeper, timber agent, organ editor, &c. &c., who, 
like faithful employes, wanted to add fame to the 
President's notoriety, which it certainly very much 
needed just at that time. 

Soon after Pierce came into office, the term of 
Brigham Young, the Mormon Governor of Utah, 
expired, and Colonel Steptoe was appointed his 
successor. Young, with his fifty wives, declared 
he held office by a " higher law " than the consti- 
tution, and " defied Pierce to put him out." The 
" saints " all believed Y^oung superior in power to 
the President of the United States ; and they have 
not been mistaken. He set the government and 
the laws at defiance, and is there still ! Instead 
of the administration forcibly going into Utah and 



REVIEW. 281 

demanding the surrender of its government into 
Col. Steptoe's hands, it attempted a ruse upon the 
Mormons, which signally failed. A battalion of 
soldiers, commanded by Steptoe, under the pretence 
of going to California, were directed to stop at the 
Mormon kingdom, and seize an unsuspecting mo- 
ment, after obtaining the good-will of these peo- 
ple, to secure the government. But this did 
not answer, and Steptoe was obliged to retreat, 
carrying off forty or fifty women ! No more 
military have been sent there since, and no further 
attempt has been made to send a governor. 
Young, in the mean while, threatens the United 
States authorities against further invasion of 
his premises. 

What a source of mortifying reflection springs 
up in every intelligent American's mind at this 
foul and degrading submission of the government 
of this great and Christian nation, in allowing all 
the civil and religious power of a territory, under 
the protection and care of the Union, to be concen- 
trated in the guilty and licentious Brigham Young ! 
By the criminal neglect of its duty, the govern- 
ment has for three years allowed the abominable 
system of polygamy, so abhorrent to the American 



282 REVIEW. 

people, and at war with American institutions, to 
be encouraged and fostered on American soil. 

The population of Utah has increased with 
extraordinary rapidity in the past three years, by 
the influx of foreign immigrants, who have been 
wheedled into this most stupid imposture, and most 
shamefully and egregiously deceived by " elders " 
commissioned abroad by Young. This detestable 
Mormon authority exists at present as the only 
authority there. The power of the government 
should be immediately exerted to check and subdue 
the further progress of this odious usurpation, and 
the dissolute practices which violate all laws of 
decency and morality, both of heaven and of man. 
The longer this anomalous power is suffered to defy 
the lawful authority of our rulers, the more formi- 
dable it will become. Our citizens — that is, pub- 
lic opinion — should force the government to end 
the career, and drive out of power this heartless 
despot of a Mormon, and save the poor, deceived 
immigrants from being ensnared into the trap of 
so designing a knave, and the country from the 
humiliation and disgrace of this bold and flagrant 
iniquity. An act of this character, by this 
administration, would have been far better than 



REVIEAV. 283 

to have been engaged in the destruction of an 
American seaport. 

During this administration, outrages of every 
nature have been constantly perpetrated upon 
American citizens abroad ; and their complaints 
have been wafted to this government in vain. 
Spain, almost the weakest of European states, in- 
sulted us by every indignity. Mexico, the weak- 
est on this continent, shamefully cheated us. Why 
did the administration adhere to free fish and tax 
coal by the Reciprocity Treaty? The duty taken 
from coal would have reduced it to six dollars a 
ton, and largely benefited all the people. 

As the revenue of the country expanded, so 
were politicians now ready to absorb it. Forty 
millions once supported the government ; and can 
it be believed that seventy millions under Pierce 
did not do it ? Bribes of all kinds came into vogue 
to procure stations under the government, or seats 
in Congress. Spartan firmness on the part of the 
people could not keep politicians out of the gold 
mines at Washington. Authenticated facts prove 
that as high as twenty-five thousand dollars were 
given for a seat in Congress, for a main chance at 
the treasury. 



284 REVIEW. 

While matters were tlms progressing at home, 
they still looked squally abroad. A minister had 
been sent to Spain for redress on account of the 
Black Warrior ; and ships under Commodore 
Macauley sent to Cuba to enforce it, after it had 
received no response for so long a time that the 
public had become wearied out with expectation 
and anxiety for the denouement. 

Do Americans know who really prevented the 
case from being settled ? It was Mr. Soule, whom 
the President sent to represent us at the Spanish 
court. He kept the despatch, and declined to 
show it to the Spanish government, as the admin- 
istration directed. 

About four months after Soule had been in 
Madrid, he visited Ostcnd, and left his secretary in 
charge of his official duties. In his absence the 
Secretary of Legation produced the despatch to 
the Spanish ministers, which stated the terms 
which would be satisfactory to this government. 
They were immediately accepted, and the Black 
Warrior difficulty was settled. This prevented 
war then with Cuba. 

Soule, thus foiled by the liojicsty of his .secre- 
tary, caused him at once to be dismissed from the 



REVIEW. 285 

service, by order of President Pierce ; while 
Pierce continued to reward Soule, who had not 
only omitted to present the phm proposed hy liini 
for settling the matter with Spain, hut had also 
put indignity upon himself and the lawful authori- 
ties of the land. JJrigham Young had not set the 
authorities at Washington more at defiance than 
Soule had done in Spain. 

The next effort to embroil us in war with Cuba 
was not less abortive. The report was that France 
and England had conspired to Africanize Cuba. 
The administration were again for war with 
France, England, and Spain ; and we were to 
join Russia in alliance against them. Presently 
the English government heard of this ridiculous 
nonsense, and Lord Clarendon came out and stated 
that the negotiations between England and France 
were about their own business, and had nothing 
on earth to do with Cuba, Spain, or the United 
States. 

In October, 1854, the French papers announced 
that a Congress of American diplomats, Bu- 
chanan, Mason, Soule, Vroom, Belmont, , 

and Owen, were to meet for some secret purpose, 
either at Paris or Baden Spa. This rumor finally 
25 



286 



REVIEW. 



resulted in the Ostencl Conference ; and, after a 
season of the most profound secrecy on the part 
of the administration, the manifesto appeared as 
the production of the concurrent wisdom of the 
.'iuthorities at Washington on the one part, and that 
of Buchanan, Soule, and Mason, on the other. 

Pending the difficulty in the Black Warrior 
case, caused entirely by Soule's refusal to present 
to the Spanish ministers the proposition of the 
administration for adjustment, Pierce, instead of 
acting as became the president of the nation, and 
instantly removing Soule, proposed to send on two 
commissioners to assist him. 

Americans, mark the absurdity, nay, the pusil- 
lanimity of that act ! The treasury was to be 
filched to pay two more men to go to Spain to pre- 
vail upon a refractory minister to do his duty ! In 
other words, the administration wanted to employ 
three men, at the government expense, to deliver 
one letter, which one respectable clerk, from any 
department, could have done just as well, irrespect- 
ive of ofl&cial distinction. Messrs. Dallas and 
Cobb, of Georgia, had been selected for this new 
mission, when Soule again interposed, and pre- 
vented its consummation. Then it was that Soule 



REVIEW. 287 

called to his aid Buchanan and Mason ; and hence 
the origin of the Ostend Congress. 

Ostend is in Belgium, and the countries that 
surround it are so utterly opposed to democratic 
liberty, that the merest suspicion would consign a 
man to the keeping of the police ; and any meet- 
ing favorable to republican views would have 
called the troops of the government to arms. 

Kossuth, not succeeding in causing our interfer- 
ence with Austria, after eloquently defending the 
heroic struggle of Hungary, took passage for Eng- 
land. Cuba now was the bait held out by Soule, 
Sanders, & Co. ; and Kossuth and all the other 
republican refugees at London united in bringing 
about the Ostend Conference. The whole world 
was excited at the announcement. Mr. Sickles was 
sent to Washington before its sitting ; and Mr. 
Dudley Mann, and Mr. McRea, our Consul to 
Paris, followed on, upon its close. All the light 

the people got at these strange sights was that we 

« 
were to have Cuba in six months. 

The Conference met ostensibly to adjust all our 

differences with Spain. Buchanan, Mason, and 

Soule, recommended that the United States should 

buy Cuba at once, or take it some other way, if 



288 REVIEW. 

Spain refused to sell. They said England and 
France were favorable to the purchase. 

We here give the exact words of the manifesto 
to which James Buchanan, as ambassador to the 
English government, was first to append his name. 

"After," says the document, "we shall have 
offered Spain a price for Cuba far beyond its pres- 
ent value, — that is, one hundred and twenty 
millions of dollars, — and this shall have been 
refused, it will then be time to consider the ques- 
tion. Does Cuba in the possession of Spain 
seriously endanger our internal peace, and the 
existence of our cherished Union ? Should this 
question be answered in the afiirmative, then by 
every law, human and DI^^XE, we shall be justijied 
in wresting it from Spain, if we possess the power. 
Under such circumstances, we ought neither to count 
the cost nor regard the odds luhich Spain might 
enlist against us. We should be recreant to our 
DUTY and commit base treason against our posterity, 
should we permit Cuba to be Africanized," etc. 

Mark it, Americans ! Buchanan first, then 
Mason and Soulo, declare that " every divine law 
justifies this government in wresting Cuba from 
Spain." Spain must either sell Cuba for one 



REVIEAV. 289 

hundred and fifty millions, or tlic divine law 
requires Americans to take it, and not stop to 
"count the loss" to themselves in treasure or 
blood ! This is the civil code and the religion of 
the Ostend Conference ! 

This was not all that Conference met to do. It 
was an inside caucus of Soule, Sickles, Belmont, 
and Sanders, to put Buchanan on the presidential 
track to carry out the Ostend principles in 1857, 
which he is pledged to do if the people elect him. 

In this unwarrantable proceeding, see our min- 
ister at the Court of St. James neglecting his 
proper official duties, omitting to settle the Central 
American difficulties, delaying the Reciprocity 
Treaty, and becoming a passive tool in the hands 
of a political cabal, composed of rcnegadoes and 
aliens ; — this is enough to make the very stones 
cry out shame ! shame ! The administration, who 
cooperated in this movement, never meant that a 
political rival should reap the benefit ; and, per- 
ceiving its own folly in the matter, My. Pierce 
retreated from that engagement as best he could. 

The next ridiculous attitude in which we were 
placed abroad was caused by the refusal of Louis 
Napoleon to allow our Spanish minister, Soule, 



25* 



290 REVIEW. 

to enter France. Then there was another flutter 
about war, and the quarrel of Napoleon and Soule 
for the alleged interference of the latter in some 
private matters, with which the public had neither 
interest nor concern, was going to involve us in a 
continental revolution, beginning at Paris. 

Mr. Mason, our minister there, felt it necessary 
to interpose for our national honor, and refused to 
hold his mission unless Napoleon withdrew his 
order. Napoleon backed out. And after Soule 
was feted at London, he was actually invited to 
come to Paris ! 

This was quite a triumph to the authorities at 
Washington, — almost equal to another Greytown 
victory ! 

Our national standing now became so much im- 
paired abroad, that intelligent foreigners were 
inquiring what had become of all the respectability 
on the other side of the Atlantic. Even the little 
State of Holland presumed to treat us with con- 
tempt. The case of Gibson was invested with a 
national interest, as in its decision every Amer- 
ican citizen, and every ship-owner of the countr}', 
was concerned. Gibson, it is remembered, had 
been imprisoned in Sumatra, and escaped to New 



REVIEW. 291 

York. He claimed the indemnity of one hundred 
thousand dollars from that government. And the 
administration directed Belmont to get it. Bel- 
mont caused letters to be written which so alarmed 
the Dutch government, that they gave up not only 
all the papers belonging to Gibson, but their own ! 
Still, Belmont being engaged in the Rothschild loan 
for Russia, had not time to attend to the business 
of American citizens. And when Gibson remon- 
strated at the injustice of the delay, the adminis- 
tration, through Mr. Marcy, tells Belmont to 
*' persevere in your demand, resolutely, but temper- 
ately." 

Why not have spoken out like men, and 
demanded the payment, or warned them to expect 
reprisals ? 0, no ! What was the consequence, 
Americans ? Why, Belmont sets it aside altogether 
— suiTenders it — on the ground that the outrage 
was perpetrated under Dutch laws, which, however 
barbarous, we were bound to respect. And the 
administration, after all its proposed energy in the 
business, bows to tke supremacy of foreign laws 
which had trampled down an American citizen, 
and left Gibson without even an appeal for clemency 
in his behalf to Congress, which was unable to re- 



292 REVIEW. 

joct his claim. This policy of non-interference in 
behalf of American citizens Avhose lives and prop- 
erty were endangered every day abroad, and at the 
mercy of savages, was enough to bleed the nation 
to the heart. This gross delinquency, too, of his 
promises, after an inaugural which confidently 
swaggered about the protection of American rights, 
and a Koszta letter, written to divert the people, 
and make them believe Pierce had kept the faith 
upon which they elected him ! 

Thus from ignorance or personal malice our 
people have been made to drink the bitter cup they 
unwittingly prepared for themselves. 

Two years had not passed before all the efful- 
gence Fillmore put upon the country had been 
darkened, and nothing high or convex could be 
seen. A large party who had favored Pierce's 
election were deeply chagrined and disappointed. 

In the European war we had been made to assume 
whatever attitude pleased our ambassadors. Mr. 
Spence put us on the side of Turkey, at Constanti- 
nople. Mr. Seymour, at St.»Petersburg, on that 
of Russia. Abandoning the Monroe doctrine ; 
repudiating the king of Musquito, and then recog- 
nizing this same king ; sustaining the Dutch 



REVIEW. 293 

against our own countrymen ; making demands on 
Spain, then backing out ; — these were among the 
doings abroad. Then look at home, Americans ! 

Our gokl was steadily going out to England, 
thence to the continent, to aid the war. There 
was surplus money enough in the treasury to have 
saved the country from the terrible crash in 1854. 
Pierce was told that the condition of the country 
would not allow putting the sum of twenty-eight 
millions in the sub-treasury ; and schemes were 
proposed to place it in the commercial world to 
avert the crisis. But the administration would not 
consent to part with the money for purposes higher 
than its own sinister plans. Such, too, was its skilful 
financiering, that the Secretary of the Treasury 
was buying up United States acceptances years be- 
fore maturity, and giving one dollar and twenty- 
one cents for every dollar advanced to the nation. 

Twenty-four millions were being spent in pur- 
chasing twenty millions of the public • debt, when 
the credit of the country did not need it. No 
debtor pressed for it, and it would not sell but at the 
enormous increase of twenty-one per cent. Four mil- 
lions of money were then a useless item, paid when 
the people needed it at home, and at their expense. 



294 REVIEW. 

The inflation of bank paper ; the excessive em- 
ployment of bonds without a specie basis ; the 
European war, and the consequent drain upon 
Euroj)ean gold, caused foreign creditors to demand 
payment, and cease to loan to our citizens ; and 
so, in 1854, the blow came, which reduced so many 
to want and ruin. They who possessed capital in 
railroad bonds and banks found the dividends 
suddenly cut off, and themselves reduced to want, 
or compelled to sacrifice their investments. Thou- 
sands were thus made beggars, while widows and 
orphans who had been provided, by deceased pro- 
tectors, with home and comfort, lost frequently 
their all. House-building, ship-building, railroad- 
building, all stopped. 

Now, we inquire, who could have prevented that 
revulsion, and saved the misery of the suffering 
masses in 1854 ? Franklin Pierce and his adminis- 
tration. In contrast to this suicidal policy, to have 
seen smiling plenty and peace and progress in all 
the industrial and mechanic arts ; to have given 
a fresh impetus to our commercial world ; to have 
afforded the facility for pushing on our internal 
improvements, our railroads and canals, would have 
been far more glorious than to have been engaged 



REVIEW. 295 

in making Ostend piracy a principle of human 
and divine law. 

Merchants declared that all they wanted was 
time — a few weeks more — and they could with- 
stand the storm. At this very crisis of January, 
1854, when government refused its timely sym- 
pathy, there were idle in the treasury upwards 
of twelve millions ! And thus the gold lost to 
the merchants and banks hy the govermnent 
exportation was the great cause of reducing their 
business twenty-eight per cent. 

While the administration was busy in finding 
out constitutional o])jections to the noble attributes 
of benevolence in affording national aid to the un- 
happy class of lunatics, it was engaged also in the 
objectionable business of recommending land grants 
to Mormons ! Had Congress refused to grant these, 
as it had a right to do. Mormon progress would 
have been checked, and Utah could not now be 
preparing to approach the door of Congress to ap- 
ply for admittance into the confederacy of States. 

Far better had it been for the President, had his 
constitutional adviser, Mr. Cushing, attempted to 
show him the fallacy of his reasoning upon land 
grants and the lunatic bill, than to have been hunt- 



296 REVIEW. 

ing up precedents in France and England to justify 
the President before the country for an attack on 
Spain in her colonies. What must the world think 
of an American administration going to monarchies 
to find an apology for a republican President, 
elected under a free democratic constitution ! * 

But Mr. Gushing, who has been " everything by 
turns, and nothing long," has shown a greater 
consistency in his ambition for war than in any- 
thing else he has professed. Possibly, his miracu- 
lous escape from the Matamoras ditch has had 
something to do in fostering this propensity. Every 
man who lives beyond his means breaks down. 
So every government administered on a fraudulent 
basis will reap the fate of its just desert. The 
prosperity and progress the country sustained under 

* The original draft of the Ostcnd Manifesto is now in this coun- 
try, and appears chiefly in the hand-^vriting of James Buchanan. 
The amendments, whioh exhil)it the " highwayman's plea," the 
piratical filibustering portions, are written by Buchanan himself. 
Soule deserves notice, however, for the conception of that confer- 
ence, and was the first to indite the celebrated document, to make it 
clear to Buchanan and Mason what was to be done. But Soule, 
well versed in tactics, saw that capital was to be made by giving 
Buchanan prominence in the business ; and the old disciple accord- 
ingly re-wrote the manifesto, and in the spirit worthy of his accom- 
plished master. 



REVIEW. 297 

Fillmore was now strongly contrasted with the 
ruin and calamity which followed Pierce's admin- 
istration. The year 1837, under Van Buren, was 
not more hopelessly disastrous than that of 1854, 
under Pierce. The agitation arising from the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill was deep, intense, and 
universal ; and discredit and distrust, by the 
absorption of gold from the healthful channels of 
trade and commerce, in connection with a partial 
failure of the crops that year, made it one of 
serious calamity to the people. Was it strange, 
then, Americans, that the fall elections at that 
period should unmistakably declare your feelings for 
this administration ? They did ; and what then 
gave the people encouragement and hope, was the 
promise of probity and prosperity which the ^Vmer- 
ican party was able to make them. 

About January, 1855, another case occurred of 
imprisonment of American citizens at Cuba. jNIr. 
John S. Thrasher, of New Orleans, addressed the 
authorities at "Washington in behalf of these pris- 
oners. From personal knowledge he was able to 
give a picture of the brutality exercised towards 
Americans in Havana which should have fired the 

spirit of every patriot man and woman in the land. 
26 



298 REVIEW. 

He stated that their custom was to put Americans 
in solitary confinement for days or weeks, until 
they were mentally and physically enfeebled. An 
attorney of the court then enters, and propounds 
all manner of questions, which have no sort of 
bearing on the case, extorting such concessions as 
to secure the punishment of the prisoner. But, 
yet, with the Koszta letter and the inaugural 
before them, theSe Americans, like many others, 
were left to the savage ferocity of tyrants, by the 
government of Franklin Pierce. 

Thank Heaven, we Americans love our country 
and countrymen still more for the spasmodic 
throes through which we have passed under this 
administration. It cannot take from us our energy 
and industry. It cannot destroy our magnificent 
cities. It cannot tear up our vast railways, nor 
make a desolate waste of our cultivated plains. 
And when the storm has swept it away, we will 
hold on to our principles, and prosper by our 
works. 

The active propagandism and manifest destiny 
of Mr. Pierce's foreign policy, which began with 
court costume and ended with the Ostend Confer- 
ence, was about this period discovered to have 



REVIEW. 299 

originated with Mr. Dudley Mann, the late 
assistant Secretary of State. This fact was brought 
to light by the publication of the two remarkable 
letters of Mr. Mann; one on "Instructions for 
War with France," the other on " Court Cos- 
tume." These were written from Paris, the 7th 
of January, 1853, to this country, for Mr. Pierce's 
benefit. After arguing the great importance of 
a treaty of alliance with Switzerland, which the 
Senate unanimously ratified, Mr. Mann gives 
an account of the states of Europe, their ability 
and power for war, as though he had the secrets 
of every crowned head in his hat. " Go," said 
he, " speedily to Gen. Cass, Mr. Soule, and all 
others you may think advisable, and implore them 
to make a demonstration that will cause a conster- 
nation at the Tuilleries, by placing ten millions of 
dollars at the disposal of the President, for pro- 
tecting our interests against foreign aggression, 
and to authorize the construction of ten or fifteen 
war steamers. If the Arabia makes a good 
run, this will reach you four days before Congress 
adjourns." 

Now, Americans, you learn for the first time for 
what Mr. Pierce wanted that ten millions. The 



300 REVIEW. 

Senate refused him because he could give no 
account of the purpose to which it was to be 
applied. It was not to fight Cuba, as we all sup- 
posed, but to carry forward Mr. Mann's diplomacy, 
by causing Louis Napoleon to become alarmed, and 
making an excitement at the Tuilleries ! 

A beautiful commentary upon American integ- 
rity and honor, — for a President to connive at so 
low a trick to declare our greatness before the states 
of Europe ! 

Americans have no reason whatever to be in love 
with the government of Louis Napoleon ; but has 
that anything to do with the good faith with ^vhich 
we are bound to deal with him ? Does not one 
sixth of our cotton go to France ? Does she not 
purchase annually of us more than five millions of 
dollars' worth of flour ? Have not more than four 
hundred of our vessels cleared for French ports 
in a year ? Except England, British North 
America, and Cuba, our shipping is more exten- 
sive in France than any other part of the world. 
French ships come here in the same proportion. 
We take ten millions of dollars' worth of their 
silks annually, and five millions' worth of . their 
wines. 



REVIEW. 301 • 

More Americans reside in France tlian in any 
other place in Europe except England. But there 
is one remarkable fact, that, while the fac- 
tors of France are equal to those of any part of 
the world, and the population is also ten millions 
greater than England, she only takes from the 
United States fifteen millions of our raw mate- 
rial, while England takes sixty ! Why is this ? 
Because our goods are taxed in France, and go 
free to England. We, too, admit French goods 
free, which makes the tonnage American ships pay 
in France nine times greater than we exact of them. 
How much better, then, had Mr. Pierce done his 
duty, and had this inequality and injustice towards 
American interests righted, than to haA^e been fol- 
lowing Mr. Maiin's directions to frighten France by 
a ruse for war ! How Diuch better to have tried 
to get the duty off of our raw cotton, beef, and 
pork, and thus aided the interests. of the Ameri- 
can people, who could then afford in return to 
take greater quantities of their silks and wines ! 
How much better thus to have served the sub- 
stantial wants of the people, than, by asking ten 
millions of their money, to make them look in the 
eyes of mankind 'like a nation of fools! It was 
26* 



• 302 REVIEW. 

no fault of Mr. Pierce that we have not been in- 
volved in nctual war with France, more than Spain. 

We find, in the same way, that the instructions 
to foreign diplomats, by Mr. Marcy, to have coats 
"with an American eagle on their buttons, and 
wear citizen's hats," was also the direction con- 
tained in Mr. Dudley Mann's letter. 

Mr. Soule now, finding the Ostend Manifesto re- 
jected at Washington, by the efforts of Mr. Marcy, 
it is said, and against the wishes of the President 
and Mr. Gushing, resigned ! He was naturally 
indignant at being censured for doing just what he 
was sent to do, viz., to try and get Cuba, somehow. 
His speech in New York, before he left our shores, 
plainly told the people the course he meant to pur- 
sue, and filled them with apprehensions and dismay. 

Soule returned, leaving most of the difiiculties 
with Spain unadjusted. The Ostend proceedings 
had been kept secret, and the friends of the 
administration in Congress got it referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations in the House, to 
elude investigation. The Senate, also, though 
possessing the power, did not, up to the close of 
the session, exercise it in this matter. 

Mr. Dodge was sent, with an -interpreter, to the 



REVIEW. 303 

court of Isabella II., to succeed Mr. Soule ; ana 
you can make your calculations, Americans, and 
see how much the Spanish mission alone will cost 
the government by March, 1857, in outfits and 
infits ! 

The homogeneity of this people and the peace of 
the Union have been hazarded more by this' adminis- 
tration than by all the former executives since the 
government was founded. It is a solemn fact, that 
at the end of two years after Pierce came into 
office, there had not been one single object of advan- 
tage to the American people accomplished through 
his administration. Not one solitary promise made 
to them was fulfilled. If anything good was be- 
gun, it never was completed. Did he ever reduce 
the Koszta letter to practice when Americans were 
groaning in dungeons in foreign countries, and cry- 
ing for mercy in vain ? Did not the foreign em- 
bassy refuse to adopt the costume after he had 
instructed them to wear it ? Did he not recall liis 
agent for trying to make war on Cuba, after he 
sent him for the purpose ? Did he not encourage 
the violation of the neutrality laws, and then 
threaten punishment on the offenders ? Did he not 
refuse Capt. Gibson justice after he had informed 



iN. 



304 REVIEW. 

the Dutch he should have it ? Did he not negoti- 
ate for guano in the Gallipagos Islands, and then 
find there was none there ? Did he not make a 
treaty with Santa Dominica, and then keep the 
same treaty from the Senate ? Did he not buy a 
desert of Mexico, through which to run a railroad, 
and pay ten millions of the people's money, and 
then find no route for a road upon it? The Sand- 
wich Islands and the Netherlands present the same 
vacillation. 

Now look at home, and what has been the sole 
mission but to weaken the integrity of the Union, 
to upset the Missouri compromise and create agi- 
tation and strife, and to destroy the American party 
because it rebuked his administration, and exposed 
his want of capacity and power to manage Ameri- 
can affairs as became their high name, and because 
it rejected the Romish hierarchy, which, dc facto, 
was the governing power of the country ! 

It was to put down the American party, there- 
fore, that Mr. Pierce enlisted for Mr. Wise's elec- 
tion in Virginia, and compelled the patronage of 
the government and the executive force at Wash- 
ington to aid in its consummation. 

In February, 1854, the Sardinian government 



REVIEW. 305 

sent a ship-load of criminals, fresh from dungeons 
in Genoa, to New York city. The mayor of that 
city very properly applied for instructions at 
Washington, as to the mode of disposing of them. 
And how was it done, do you think, Americaifs ? 
By directing the district attorney to receive them 
as exiles ! The spoils of the New York custom- 
house had far greater interest for Mr. Pierce's 
government than the receiving of foreign criminals 
on our shores. 

Unscrupulous, reckless spoilsmen at home, with 
disciples of Lopez, English socialists, German 
money- changing Jews, and French and American 
buccaneers, made up the host which was to tear from 
as our well-earned reputation, and rob us before 
mankind of our national renown. 



CHAPTER III 



THIRD YEAR OF PIERCE's ADMINISTRATION. 



At a certain crisis in England's history, the 
French, under the idea that they had become weak 
in gold, were chary about terms of peace. Mr. 
Pitt determined upon a loan to remove the fallacy, 
and in less than fifteen hours and twenty minutes, . 
the subscription to a sum of eighteen millions was 
completed. This was called the loyalty loan, be- 
cause it vindicated the people's integrity to their 
government. So, the American people were no 
sooner convinced that their integrity and honor had 
been compromised by Franklin Pierce's administra- 
tion in the eyes of all mankind, than they rose in 
the fall elections, and signally rebuked him. 

The judicial murders of Manuel Pinto and Fran- 
cisco Estrampes, by the order of the Consul Gen- 
eral of Cuba, in April, 1855, excited the indigna- 
tion of this people. Estrampes was a naturalized 
citizen, and these men had every reason to believe 




X 



REVIEW. 307 

jNIr. Pierce cordially sympathized with their con- 
spiracy for liberty in Cuba. And there is the most 
indubitable proof that he did. The understanding 
was that those champions for Cuban liberty were 
first to strike the blow, then Mr. Pierce was to 
bring the government of the United States to their 
aid. It was all arranged, with Pierce's full knowl- 
edge, that Gen. Quitman was to take the command, 
and funds were contributed for that purpose. And 
therefore it was that he sent a secret spy to Cuba 
in 1855, to look into matters there, and ascertain 
from their resources, &c., the ability of these con- 
spirators to sustain themselves. This spy became 
on intimate terms with Gen. Pinto, a wealthy Span- 
iard, and by their joint agency they formed a plan 
by which they searched into the archives of the 
Consul General's department, and there found a 
secret treaty. This treaty contained a guarantee 
of Cuba to Spain by England and France ; and at 
once proved the folly and danger of any warlike 
attempt on the part of the conspirators there, or 
the government of the United States. 

A large sum of money had been audited by the 
agent of Mr. Pierce, for this Cuban expedition ; 
but when he returned and reported to the Presi- 



Q 



08 REVIEW. 



dent that the democrats of Cuba never could make 
the first effort for liberty, Mr. Pierce desisted from 
the design. The subsequent letters which passed 
between the American spy and Pinto were found 
upon his person, and, upon this evidence alone, 
Pinto and Estrampes were garroted ! 

Commodore Macauley, on this account, was' 
subsequently received by Gen. Concha with marked 
consideration. The want of administrative ability 
had now become the subject of universal complaint. 
The post office department was conspicuously so, 
by making the sale of letters and papers an item 
of revenue ; and it is a notorious foct that bank- 
bills, checks, and insurance policies, were sold in 
piles of letters to paper-mills at the North. A 
Connecticut mill bought two thousand of these let- 
ters, by which all these facts were brought to light. 
In other j)laces there were systematic thefts com- 
mitted on mail matter, while political heresy was 
always good cause for stopping channels of informa- 
tion which might affect the welfare of the party in 
power. 

Think of this, Americans, that private letters, 
misguided by bad management of the department 
at Washington, instead of being returned to the 



REVIEW. 309 

general post-office and advertised according to law, 
were sold, in indiscriminate lumber heaps, to paper 
makers ! 

There has been a singular incongruity in Mr. 
Pierce's proclivities for war ; for we all remember, 
when an opportunity was offered him in Mexico to 
manifest an active love for it, he backed out. 
Nevertheless, the hallucination still existed that it 
was his military renown that made him President, 
as it had done Jackson, Harrison, and Taylor ; and, 
to insure his continuance another four years, he 
must get the American people into a general fight, 
as Greytown was altogether too bloodless a victory 
for the emergency. So, anything for noise and 
confusion, to divert the minds of the people from 
the true state of their case. 

The sound dues from Denmark was the next 
belligerent demonstration. He could not stand fire 
for Cuba, because France and England were both 
in his way there. So he bullied Denmark, at a time 
when the king was alienated from his government, 
and their internal affairs were all distracted. And 
for what ? Why, only for a few hundred dollars ! 
For this he was ready to involve the country in war, 
in comparison with the cost of which, all the dues 
27 



310 REVIEW. 

in the next fifty years would have been but a 
trifle. 

All Europe was paying these dues long before 
we existed as a nation. Denmark raised the light- 
houses and set up the beacons, and why was it so 
suddenly inconsistent with our national honor to 
pay the paltry tax ? We have scarcely commerce 
enough in the Baltic to talk about, much less quar- 
rel about. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and 
Jackson, regarded these dues as lawful, and guaran- 
teed them to Denmark by treaty. 

Now, Americans, mark the result of this new- 
fledged warlike difficulty. The treaty was about 
to expire, and, instead of a proclamation of war, 
Mr. Pierce sends forth a circular letter to the 
American merchantmen to pay the dues, but to pay 
them under protest ! Thus there has been in every 
act an indication of savage delight at the prospect 
of war, but always, fortunately, with some balk to 
the gross atrocity. 

Tlie next serious foreign question was that aris- 
ing from the enlistment of Americans for the Brit- 
ish service in the Crimea. In Xovember, 1855, 
the Albion of New York, the British organ, 
said this proceeding "had the sanction of Mr. 



REVIEW. 311 

Marcy, Secretary of State." The admmistrution 
organ, in commenting on this, did not deny the fact, 
which was then regarded tantamount to an acknowl- 
edgment. A week after the British proclamation 
of 15th of March, 1855, Avas received here, the 
district attorney of New York was applied to by 
Mr. McDonald, the British consul, for permission 
to establish an ofl&ce in Pearl-street, in that city, 
to enlist men to send to Halifax to join the foreign 
legion at Nova Scotia. The office was already 
open, when the application was made to Mr. 
McKeon, district attorney, but, being rejected by 
him, it was closed. The German papers also 
advertised for recruits. The instructions given in 
the cases of Spain, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, 
regarding American citizens, were now announced 
to British agents, by the district attorney. But, 
in defiance of this, another house was opened in 
Chatham-street, New York, and the enlistment 
went on with as much activity as if all the author- 
ities at "Washington were dead. 

In Philadelphia, too, Hertz was in the same 
business ; and advertisements, near Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, called for mechanics and machinists for 
the same object. These facts were made knoAvn by 



312 REVIEW. 

families whose husbands and fathers had been en- 
ticed away. With the entire knowledge of the 
fact that enlistments were being made in New 
York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Boston, every 
day, under British employes, who paid these men 
to violate the laws of the country, the administra- 
tion purposely blinded itself to the sight. 

Mr. Buchanan was about to leave for home, 
having failed in the Ostend business and in the 
settlement of the Central American difficulties, 
when this new perplexity was added to his busi- 
ness negotiations. Lord Palmerston, upon being- 
notified, stated that he had ordered the recruiting 
to be stopped, both in the United States and the 
British Provinces, and that the infraction of 
our laws had been innocently made. When this 
explanation reached us, what was the administra- 
tion about, do you think? It was hard at work, 
Americans, to get up a ground of dispute with 
England, by raking together in a heap all her 
sins of omission and commission. Had Mr. Pierce 
done his duty, there would have been no occasion 
for any trouble whatever. 

But this would not have suited the President's 
purpose, nor subserved his political aspirations. 



REVIEW. 313 

When England received this despatch in due 
form, she was naturally startled. Seeing, as she 
had, so many flagrant acts upon the honor of the 
country passed by, she considered her concession 
most amicable and just. 

To bring up Central America, the Dominica 
quarrel, consuls' conduct, and general matters, 
all at once, was enough to try her temper ; and 
she directed her fleet to take position in the 
West India seas. But, as for that, what cared 
Americans ? With our free covenant of progress, 
she might as well have attempted to draw Niaga- 
ra's waters into her rural districts, as to have ter- 
rified us. 

No power, success, or triumph, no badly-admin- 
istered government here, can make us forget that 
the American Union is the only fortress in which 
popular liberty can be defended ; and that here, 
where the land is baptized in the blood of mar- 
tyred kinsmen, it was born. 

Mr. Crampton, the British minister at Wash- 
ington, made a mistake in studying American 
politics through Mr. Pierce's policy, and so far 
forgot himself as to persist in violating our laAvs 

in the question of enlistment, as was clearly 

27* 



314 REVIEW. 

proved, in the trial of Hertz and others, at Phila- 
delphia. He lost sight of the fact that ambas- 
sadors ' ' are bound to respect the laws and cus- 
toms of the country they are in," and if they 
refuse can be dismissed. And he so far departed 
from his sphere of duty as to become personally 
disrespectful and obnoxious to the national exec- 
utive. 

Had Pierce's government then acted independ- 
ently, and instantly dismissed Cramptou, after 
the English government (with a full knowledge 
of the facts) failed to recall him, the whole Ameri- 
can people would have justified him. Instead of 
which, it vacillated and threatened in order to 
make an excitement for the Cincinnati Conven- 
tion, and only dismissed him a few days before. 
It is more than probable that, but for that Cincin- 
nati Convention, Mr. Crampton, with all his per- 
sonal indignities, might still have l)ecn in Wash- 
ington. 

In the autumn of 1855 American citizens 
were murdered at Nicaragua, en route to Califor- 
nia. It was a most violent case. A mother and 
child were killed in the cabin of an American 
steamer, from New York, while on the lake. Ap- 



REVIEW. 315 

plication was made at Washington for power to 
bring the offenders to punishment, and obtain in- 
demnity for the loss of property then sustained. 
Did the administration promptly demand this re- 
dress? No. Mr. Marcy's letter of the eighth of 
November, 1855, said " Nicaragua had no respons- 
ible government," and was in a "miserable con- 
dition." That, therefore, was the excuse for 
withholding that protection to American citizens 
pledged in the inaugural and Koszta letter. But, 
when Nicaragua was in a better condition, was the 
case laid before her government for satisfaction to 
Americans? It was not, because the original 
refusal was devoid of heartiness, and, as every- 
body knew, a mere quibble. With just as much 
reason, and no more, Mr. Parker H. French, an 
American citizen, was refused at Washington, 
when he presented himself as the accredited am- 
bassador from Nicaragua, in the present year, 
while Padre Vijil, a foreign Romish priest, was 
accepted, a few weeks later, from the same gov- 
ernment. 

Now, Americans, the same objections which 
forbade the rejection of the first ambassador (had 
they been tenable) would have prevented the 



316 REVIEW. 

acknowledgment of the last. The government of 
Nicaragua underwent no change between the 
periods of sending Mr. French and Padre Yijil. 
If it merited a representative at Washington at 
all, it did so when French was sent there. But 
there was a motive underlying that matter, which 
the American people now understand. The Cin- 
cinnati Convention was at hand, the independence 
of Nicaragua became popular, the people sympa- 
thized with the nol)le Walker and the gallant 
American legion who had assisted that govern- 
ment to democratic liberty, and the Eomish priest- 
hood in the United States, moreover, must still 
bo propitiated, and hence the recognition of Nica- 
ragua's independence. Take away the effort for 
renomination which Mr. Pierce was then making ; 
takd away the fact that the Romish hierarchy 
fjxvored the reception of one of the Pope's agents, 
and who believes that act of Mr. Pierce would 
ever have been consummated ? 

For that nomination, too, he wanted a difficulty 
with Spain ; for that, he cannonaded Greytown ; 
for that, he made a little fuss with Holland, and 
would have embroiled us in war with England, on 
a point of honor. In this self-aggrandizement, he 



REVIEW. 317 

purchased the votes of Congress to extend the 
area of bondage, broke down the Missouri com- 
promise, and embittered the North against the 
South by attempting to introduce slavery into 
Kansas by fraud and bloodshed. 

0, Americans, the nation is perishing for want 
of a ruler ! We have no one to whom we can 
now look to arrest oppression and crime, by inter- 
posing the law. The whole policy of Franklin 
Pierce has been to dodge the responsibility of the 
Kansas difficulty, after he got the people into civil 
war. It was his infidelity to his high and holy 
trusts that has disturbed the peace and tranquillity 
in which Millard Fillmore left the executive of the 
country. Had Pierce been true to the principles 
which elected him, that peace would still pre- 
vail. 'Think, Americans, of your fellow-citizens 
murdered, your women driven to frenzy, their 
husbands and fathers chained, their houses burned 
to ashes, because Franklin Pierce, the President 
of the United States, did not choose to stop the 
invasion when it first began ! He knew it all, but 
could not spare the sacrifice of life and property 
in sight of the Cincinnati Convention ! Nothing 
but this pusillanimous conduct on the part of your 



318 REVIEW. 



President, Americans, lias perilled the safety of 
the Union for the fourth time, under the great 
covenant which makes us one people. 

Forty years ago, the American people were in- 
dignant that Mr. Madison should let the capital 
be burned; later still, they condemned the disaster 
Van Buren brought upon the country, the treach- 
ery of Tyler, and the savage ferocity of Polk, in 
putting the gallant Taylor, with his little band of 
heroes, before twenty thousand Mexicans, to be cut 
to pieces. But what were all those acts, in com- 
parison with these of Franklin Pierce ? 

Let the desolation of homes and hearths, of 
forfeited life and hopes, in Kansas, answer ! It is 
the administration of Mr. Pierce that has caused 
"moral treason," "martial law," and "civil 
war," in Kansas, since the first fraudulent Kansas 
election. Franklin Pierce, as President of the 
United States, was the supreme law-ofiicer OA'er 
that territory ; and it was his imperious duty to have 
provided a new legishiturc, which would have ex- 
pressed the free will of the real settlei^s of Kansas, 
which would have satisfied the North and the South. 
and prevented the subsequent effusion ot blood 
Instead of which, he attempted to sustiin the 



REVIEW. 319 

fmudulcnt legislature, and appointed territorial 
judges who cooperated with the military against the 
manifest wishes of the majority of tlie people. 
This was all done to obtain votes in the Cincinnati 
Convention, recklessly disregardful of public indig- 
nation in all sections, so long as he got the sanction 
of a faction of designing men and unscrupulous 
demagogues. 

Governor Reeder's testimony, under oath, tells 
a tale which sickens every true American heart. 
Mr. Pierce appointed Reeder to please one set of 
political friends, and dismissed him to please an- 
other. He said to Recdcr that he cordially ap- 
proved of his whole course in Kansas, but that 
Atchison, of Missouri, was inexorable in requiring 
that he, Reeder, should be removed. Reeder was 
then supplicated by Pierce to resign ; and when 
this failed, he sought to bribe him by oflering him 
the mission to China, or in some other way advan- 
cing the private interests of Reeder. Unable by 
any dishonorable proposition to induce Reeder to 
resign, Mr. Pierce then said he should remove him, 
not on account of dereliction from duty, but for 
land speculations ! This was the contemptible sub- 
terfuge, Americans, of the President of the United 



320 REVIEW. 

states towards a subordinate with whom he ex- 
pressed himself entirely satisfied, but who, by his 
own acknowledgments, he was obliged to remove, 
to please Atchison, of Missouri ! And mark the 
fact, in the sworn testimony of Eeeder, that the 
resort to land speculations as the reason for his 
removal was done after the avowal of Pierce, in a 
previous interview, that he saw nothing reprehen- 
sible in that act, whatever ! 

For the first time in our historv, has the niili- 
tary of the country been used to justify the bar- 
barity of its citizens ; and, for the honor of human- 
ity, we pray to Heaven it may be the last. 

Governor Shannon, of Ohio, was next sent to 
Kansas, who, in a short time, was also found not 
to answer the policy of the administration, which 
is to force slavery on Kansas, against the wishes 
of the majority of the people. 

Why did not Mr. Pierce ask Congress for means 
to put down these violators of law in Kansas ? He 
countenanced the brutality for seven or eight 
months, purposely to obtain votes at Cincinnati in 
the June convention. 

And now, Americans, note this solemn fact, that 
Mr. Pierce has not only perilled the Union, but he 



REVIEW. 321 

has inflicted a wound upon the honor of the South, 
in the repeal of the Missouri compromise. They 
never elected Pierce to do any such thing. They 
never asked or desired that the pledges and com- 
promises for the peace of this Union should be 
touched. And, had the South supposed it pos- 
sible, Franklin Pierce could no more have received 
its electoral vote, than Benedict Arnold could have 
been called to Wasliington's place after his treason. 

Let Americans remember that this act was 
begun and consummated by a Northern President. 
Forbid it. Heaven, that a man shall come after 
Franklin Pierce who adopts and retains his views 
and policy towards Kansas ! 

Some may inquire. Can there be such a man ? 
We tell you yes, and he is James Buchanan, of 
Pennsylvania. There is therefore a deep, earnest, 
general call, from the independent masses of this 
people, for change — moral reform, political reform, 
official honesty, in lieu of official availability ! 
We have now but one man before iis, as a candi- 
date for the Presidency, who clings to the great, 
fundamental principle of the Union, and is honest- 
ly before the people upon the dignity of the con- 
stitution ; a man of opinion, of enlarged views, 
28 



322 REVIEW. 

able to protect the rights of all, because he re- 
spects the will of the majority, and has an undy- 
ing love for the Union of these States, and the 
imperishable glory of the American name. This 
man is Millard Fillmore, of New York. 

Do you ask, Americans, where is the demonstra- 
tion that the people. North and South, reject the 
policy of this administration ? We point you to 
the ballot-box, which, in the language of Erastus 
Brooks, of New York, is " worth fighting for, and 
Avorth dying for." The popular majority which 
elected Pierce was more than sixty-three thousand, 
and every state but four in the entire Union cast 
its vote for him. Of these, two Avere Northern 
and two were Southern States. In the first year 
of his administration, he was in a popular minority 
of sixty-seven thousand. In the second year, it 
had increased to two hundred and twenty-six 
thousand. In the third year, it had reached three 
hundred and three thousand, nine hundred and 
twenty-seven votes ! With this terrible reaction 
and condemnation by the American people, Pierce, 
therefore, was deficient for re-nomination three 
hundred and sixty-seven thousand, and in a minor- 
ity of three hundred thousand ! ' 



REVIEW. 323 

In this condition of things, Mr. James Buchanan 
was put upon Pierce's phitform, after endorsing the 
entire policy of Pierce's administration, and pledg- 
ing himself, if elected, to keep it in full force the 
next four years.' The American people, who 
have already repudiated it, by the unmistakable 
verdict of three hundred thousand votes, will 
have another opportunity, in the November elec- 
tions, to administer a last rebuke, by refusing to 
accept Mr. Pierce's succession in the selection of 
Mr. James Buchanan. Thank Heaven, the Ameri- 
can people can inflict a blow, through their free 
constitution, in a single day, which the monarchies 
of all Europe could not do in a century ! 

The official conduct of President Pierce in ref- 
erence to the "Naval Retiring Board" is dis- 
cussed, at length, in another chapter of this work. 
It is well to remind the people, however, that, of 
all the acts which merit condemnation, and out- 
rage the feelings of American men, that, which 
has wounded ihe honor of and inflicted disgrace and 
poverty upon the gallant mou of the navy, and 
their suffering families, is one of the most atro- 
cious. More than five hundred American families 
have been most seriously injured by this unparalleled 



324 REVIEW. 

tyranny of Franklin Pierce and Secretary Dobbin 
Not only liave they deprived the country of the 
ser\dces of men when they were eminently needed; 
to exalt our stars and stripes ; not only have 
they aspersed the fair fame of these men, by con- 
demning them, in violation of law, and without 
any form of trial — a right guaranteed by the 
constitution to the most blood-stained criminal in 
the land ; but by that act the administration 
have deprived these men of the advantages of 
any other honorable calling. Do you ask how? 
We answer, has it not attached opprobrium to 
these ofiicers as citizens, by disrating or dismiss- 
ing them? Does not the fact itself imply moral, 
physical, or mental incompetency, in the public 
judgment ? If these officers apply for employment 
in the merchant service, for example, what is the 
result ? The insurance companies refuse to grant 
a policy to a ship in their command, because of 
this unjust sentence by the government. The edu- 
cation of these men compelled them to look to the 
profession as a life service, and hence the difficulty 
of attempting to compete with the civil employ- 
ments of our enterprising business men. Athens 
starved her best men, and Rome neglected hers , 



/ REVIEW. 325 

and this led to the ruin of those republics. But 
England votes lands, and the Queen bestows fine 
salaries, upon her military men. And in France, 
Russia, Prussia, and Austria, despotisms as they 
are, there is marked liberality towards this arm of 
the public service. 

It shocks the common sense of the people to see 
these freemen, who have defended our fortress of 
liberty on every sea and in every clime, ruthlessly 
thrust aside by an incompetent President, insti- 
gated by unprincipled demagogues. 

The veto power, only intended by the constitu- 
tion to be used with extreme delicacy and caution, 
and to prevent hasty or indiscreet legislation, 
which might defeat the free will of the people, 
has been used by Franklin Pierce with the same 
arrogant self-conceit that is exercised by the Ro- 
man pontiff. He has abused this high prerogative 
of the President, and trampled down the rights 
and })ri\'ileges of the people with the audacious 
impudence of a Nero. 

The French Spoliation bill, which passed Con- 
gress in 1855, shared the unhallowed fate of the 
lunatic bill, made for that unfortunate class of our 

fellow-beings. There never were claims upon earth 
28* 



326 REVIEW. 

founded more in justice than those connected with 
the French Spoliation "bill ; and when, after years 
of toil on the part of the petitioners for redress, Con- 
gress at last vindicated the nation's honor, it was 
crushed by the reckless action of Franklin Pierce. 

The Collins line of steamers, too, the pride of 
every honest American, shared the same fate; 
and, though the appropriation was afterwards 
made in spite of the executive veto, it remained 
in its power still to give the notice for discontinu- 
ing the contract. That policy of Pierce's govern- 
ment, to crush out American enterprise, and give 
foreigners the monopoly of the seas, as well as upon 
the soil of our country, has been steadily pursued 
towards the Collins steamers, until the blow has 
finally been struck by Congress, and the notice to 
stop the government assistance has been given. 

As a nation we are daily becoming more 
formidable to foreign powers, and the United 
States of America is the only country whose mari- 
time increase can compete successfully with that of 
Great Britain. Now, more than ever before, every 
instinct of aiatioual pride and patriotism demanded 
that these American steamers should have . been 
retained and cherished, as the only line that can 



REVIEW. 327 

offer successful competition to the Cunard line of 
English steamers. 

Did the revenues of the government compel the 
withholding of this money from American industry 
and enterprise ? Did public sentiment oppose this 
effort which has elevated our national capabilities 
over the world ? No ; it was in defiance of the 
will and wishes of the majority of the American 
people, that narrow-minded, designing men have 
been found to conspire with Franklin Pierce in the 
attempted destruction of our beautiful steamers. 
Had that Collins line existed in the war of 1812, 
the waters of our lakes and ocean would have re- 
mained private waters ; and the battles of Niagara, 
Chippewa, and New Orleans, would never have 
been fought upon American soil. 

Thus, in war or peace, these steamers should be 
made part and parcel of ourselves ; — protected for 
the national benefit in time of peace, and secur- 
ing our country from the danger of land operations 
in time of war. 

0, Americans, we want a man to put down all 
this ; — a man with a whole American heart, who 
loves his country everywhere ; who loves the peo- 
ple and all their interests, and will protect, defend, 



328 REVIEAV. 

and cherish their commerce, their shipping, their 
manufactures, their mechanics, and glory only in 
their nationality. That man is Millard Fillmore ! 
We have all the materials and means for building 
our own ships, and developing our own resources. 
We can cast our own cannon, make our own rifles, 
bayonets, and knives ; and Ave have American men 
to do the work, in lieu of foreign workmen, whom 
Pierce has harbored, to take it out of American 
hands, for the sake of keeping the foreign vote, and 
favoring the Romish hierarchy. 

While, too, Pierce's administration has been 
stopping the commerce of the Mississippi and the 
lakes of the north-west, by refusing to let the people 
have their own money to remove the difficult and 
dangerous impediments, the funds of the treasury 
have been squandered in purchasing pictures to 
adorn a committee-room connected with public 
buildings at Washington, at a cost to the people's 
pockets of three thousand six hundred dollars, and 
a marble mantel at five hundred dollars for the same 
sumptuous apartment. 

Americans, you cannot afford this ! You cannot 
afford to tax yourselves and your children to please 
the taste merely of a capricious executive. You 



REVIEW. 329 

foot these bills, remember ; and you have a right 
to know the advantage of these things. The cost 
of the machinery in putting up the public buildings 
at Washington, under Franklin Pierce's foreign 
administration, has been ascertained, by the investi- 
gation of a committee of Congress, to have nearly 
equalled the cost of all the buildings ! Every 
house-builder in America knows this is all wrong. 
Money has been expended in transporting bricks 
from New York and Philadelphia to Washington, 
at thirteen dollars a thousand, and then being so 
small as to take thirteen hundred to make a thou- 
sand ! 

Under Millard Fillmore's administration, all the 
jobs upon public buildings were done under honest, 
bona fide contracts. But Pierce abandoned the old 
contract system, and has employed mechanics and 
laborers by the day, in the post-office and capitol 
extensions. Noav, what is the result of having men 
dress marble and brick by the day ? Why, they 
will contrive to dress it as long as a rough surface 
remains, no matter whether it is ever intended 
to be seen or not. So the rear wall of the post- 
office, which never can be seen by the public at all, 
is finished in a more costly manner than any public 



330 REVIEW. 

building in the United States, and only because 
it lias given encouragement to foreign over Ameri- 
can mechanics. 

In 1852, Walter, the architect of the capitol 
under Mr. Fillmore, saw the slowness with which 
men worked when their own interest was advanced 
thereby, and made a contract with Mr. Emory, the 
most experienced granite-cutter in Washington, to 
furnisii it all at one fifth less than it could be done 
by the day's work. But, in the face of experience, 
and a perfect knowledge of the fact that the dic- 
tates of enlightened public economy demanded this 
policy to be retained, Capt. Meigs, the Pierce 
employe, acting out the principle of extravagance 
and folly pursued by the administration, returns to 
the day-wages system, and thus has caused more 
money to be expended on the back of the post-ofQce, 
never to be seen, than on the front of the capitol 
of the United States! 

Hon. Edward Ball, of Ohio, in the month of 
May, 1856, inquired into the prodigal wasteful- 
ness of the people's money on the part of the em- 
ployes of the administration of Franklin Pierce. 
By the introduction of a series of resolutions, the 
enormous sums expended upon the enlargement of 



REVIEW. 331 

the capitol were sought to be ascertained. The ad- 
herents of the President were greatly alarmed, and 
endeavored to suppress all information on the sub- 
ject. But frauds of the most villanous nature had 
been discovered, and were exposed by the chairman 
of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. 
In the single contract made with Beals and Dixon, 
the treasury had been robbed of one hundred 
thousand dollars. This was perpetrated wilfully, 
because Mr. J. B. Emery, of Baltimore, with all 
the securities and obligations required by the stip- 
ulations of the " proposals," offered to do the cor- 
aice-work at twenty-four dollars and seventy-five 
cents per foot, while Beals and Dixon charged 
fchirty-nine dollars per foot. The former gentle- 
man engaged to do the " architraves over antes " 
at nine dollars per foot ; but the work was given — 
no doubt for political purposes — to Messrs. Beals 
and Dixon to do at the monstrous charge of nine- 
teen dollars per foot ! For capitals of columns 
Beals and Dixon charged nine hundred dollars, 
Mr. Emery offering to do the same w^ork, according 
io " advertisement" {sham advertisement), at four 
Tiundred dollars each column ! Another enormous 
disparity was exhibited in the bid on capitals of 



332 REVIEW. 

antes ; Beals and Dixon charging two hundred 
and forty dollars, Mr. Emery asking only fifty- 
eight dollars ! And so on, through the catalogue 
of iniquity. 

The corruption existing in the department hav- 
ing these matters in charge was also made mani- 
fest. By garbling the figures, and by palpable 
miscalculations, it was ascertained that the " de- 
partment " made it appear as though Mr. Emery's 
bid had amounted to three hundred and forty-one 
thousand seven hundred and fourteen dollars, 
whereas, in fact, it was only twenty-five thousand 
eight hundred and ninety-five dollars. 

By the proper mode of computation — that is to 
say, according to the rules of the arithmetics used in 
our American schools — Mr. Emery had offered to 
do the work on two thousand five hundred feet of 
rough stone, six hundred and thirteen feet each, 
for the sum of one thousand three hundred and 
seventy-five dollars; but the foreigners employed 
in the Treasury Department, according to the rules 
of their European method of computation, made 
it appear that Mr. Emery's charge was seventy- 
one thousand and seventy-five dollars, or nearly 
forty dollars per foot. The American arithmeti- 



KEVTEW. 333 

Claris make the sixteen thousand feet of work for 
which Mr. Emery bid amount to eight thousand 
eight hundred dollars ; but the foreign clerks of the 
Treasury Department of Franklin Pierce figure it 
up to two hundred and forty-four thousand four 
hundred and eighty dollars. This was done through 
ignorance of the common rules of the American 
arithmetic, or for the purpose of keeping Mr. 
Emery out of the contract, and thus securing it 
to the government pets, Messrs. Beals and Dixon. 

Thus the people's money is used to retain the 
reins of government, in order that a perpetual 
handling of the treasury's funds may be indulged. 
The people's money is used to secure the power of 
robbing the people, year after year. It was not so 
under the administration of Millard Fillmore. 

But, in addition to the crime of robbery, that of 
a violation of the United States law, in reference 
to the plan of construction of the capitol extension, 
is chargeable upon the Treasury Department of 
the present administration. 

Here is the law. " For the continuation of (lie 
Treasury building, three hundred thousand dollars, 
to be expended under the direction of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, according to the plan 
29 






4 REVIEW. 



proposed by Thomas U. Walter, architect, and 
approved of by the Committees of the Senate 
and House of Representatives on Buihlings and 
Grounds, at the last session of Congress." Now, 
what regard have the men at Washington paid to 
this statute ? Not the least. What are they, 
then, but outlaws — a pack of outlaws in the 
Treasury Department of the United States ? ]^]r. 
Walter's plan has been changed by the superin- 
tendent and architect having the extension in 
charge. They have allowed their fancies to run 
riot, and all their dreams of " palace halls " are 
being realized at the expense of the American 
people, who elevated Mr. Pierce to the Presidency, 
and at the expense of some who had no hand in 
that sad affair. The plain front originally designed, 
and the economical plan proposed, under Mr. Fill- 
more's administration (the idea of the extension 
having originated in his term of office), have been 
totally abandoned, and a front of Italian ' ' ginger- 
bread-work " substituted instead of Mr. Walter's 
design. The elaborate and costly style substituted 
is of no consequence to Mr. Pierce ; but the people 
will be greater dupes than we take them to be, if 
they tacitly submit to the robbery of their treasury 



REVIEW. 335 

for the purpose of pampering the pets of the ex- 
ecutive. Fifty thousand dollars, or one hundred 
thousand dollars, are mere bagatelles to the unscru- 
pulous Pierce ; and he does not hesitate to sanction 
the expenditure of such paltry sums, for a single 
moment, if the votes of the influential contractors 
can he secured to perpetuate the so-called demo- 
cratic dynasty. American democrats, however, 
will object to the perpetuity of the foreign democ- 
racy, on this principle of wasteful extravagance. 
During the Fillmore administration the work of 
the Capitol extension was commenced, under the 
direction of the Department of the Interior 
(where it properly belongs), according to the plans 
of Mr. Walter ; but Mr. Pierce, to suit his own 
personal purposes, took the control of the work 
from the Secretary of the Interior, and placed 
it in the hands of the Secretary of War ; and this 
last officer at once appointed a military/ officer, 
the present superintendent, over Mr. Walter, with 
power to change the plan. Now, Mr. Walter is 
acknowledged to be the best civil architect in the 
United States ; but the Pierce managers, having in 
view the pampering of their own partisans, have 
seen fit to allow their man. Captain Meigs, to do 



336 REVIEW. 

pretty much as he pleases in the way of nonsensi- 
cal decorations and extravagant adornments. No 
matter : the people, who placed Franklin Pierce in 
power, foot the bills. American mechanics and 
working-men will "pay the piper," while they 
are rendered less able to do so by the admission 
of the cheap pauper laborers of Europe, duty free, 
into the American labor market. The difference 
of a million of dollars, between the proposed cost 
of the Capitol extension, originally designed un- 
der Mr. Fillmore's administration, and that substi- 
tuted by Pierce, is an item of no moment. The 
people will be " democrats; " and as they are will- 
ing to pay for the glorious privilege of mingling 
with the Irish Catholics and the foreign demo- 
crats, instead of being American democrats, why, 
let them go on until they are tired of ihc: drain 
upon their pockets. 

But the cause of President Pierce's disregard 
of cost is evidenced in his sanction of the em- 
ployment of any number of German and Italian 
sculptors, busily engaged in the manufacture of 
statuary, designed for the pediment of the two 
wings of the. extension. These graven images are 
represented to be the liknesses of nothing in the 



REVIEW. 337 

heavens above or the earth beneath, — excepting 
one of them, which is a model of a German work- 
ing-man's wife, and is passed off as the Goddess of 
Liberty. This Italian and German toggery has 
been procured at an immense cost ; but American 
working-men will pay for it, by taxation. Foreign 
sculptors are the only ones employed under Mr. 
Pierce's administration, but American mechanics 
are taxed to pay for the work of these Germans 
and Italians. 

Is this country worthy to be called American ? 
Is there any sense or signification in the term 
America or Americans ? Why not call it Ger- 
many, or Ireland? How many miserable, de- 
luded American mechanics there are, who voted for 
Franklin Pierce, who would now be glad to be em- 
ployed on the work of the Capitol extension ! But 
Germans and Italians must be propitiated, for the 
sake of their votes, and Americans may starve ! 

Is it nut true that the people should teach their 
representatives that they are not sent to Congress 
to vote appropriations of their money, from year 
to year, to be used by Franklin Pierce, or any 
other President, without limitation or discrimina- 
tion ? 

29* 



338 REVIEW. 

Pierce's aclministration came into power pledged 
to preserve peace, by keeping down all causes of 
agitation among the people, — pledged to reform all 
useless abuses, and expenditures of their money ; 
instead of which, he has run up the expenses of 
the nation from fifty to eighty millions per an- 
num, and. kept down the internal commercial 
interests of the country by refusing the improve- 
ments which the people demanded. He has inter- 
fered with the domestic peace of the nation, and 
forced us into all the horrors of civil war. He 
has deceived, cheated, betrayed the people, at 
home and abroad. And he has done more to 
fasten the despotism of the Pope's political church 
upon the American people than the monarchs of 
Catholic France, Catholic Austria, and Catholic 
Spain, ever did together. 

He graciously received the Pope's Nuncio, sent 
by him to enforce his claims to property of Amer- 
ican citizens, and has cultivated the closest inti- 
macy with this foreign despot, and with those 
aliens among us whom he knew, in virtue of their 
imperishable allegiance to the Pope, cannot, 
whether gone through the forms of naturalization 
or not, ever become American citizens. The day 



REVIEW. 339 

a bishop or priest of Rome renounces allegiance 
to the Pope of Rome, that day he forfeits his 
right to be a priest or bishop, and cannot ad- 
minister a sacrament, or exercise a single preroga- 
tive, in the Roman Catholic Church. Franklin 
Pierce knows, but does not care for this. He knows 
that Bishop Hughes sold his party the foreign 
Catholic vote, which elected him to the Presidency ; 
and the future annalist will do Pierce the justice 
to record the fact that, while his administration 
is distinguished but for two original measures, the 
burning of Greytown and the court costume order, 
he has been singularly grateful for his elevation 
to the papal despot, rather than to the free will of 
the American people. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FOURTH YEAR OF PIERCE's ADMINISTRATION. 

When George the Third, of England, undertook 
to subdue the American colonies in 1760, and 
make them bow to the supremacy of Parliament, 
he sent regiments of troops to Boston, and had 
fourteen war-vessels pointing their broadsides on 
the town, to enable his commissioners to extort 
its unjust taxation ; and, the more effectually to 
frighten the people into submission, the king's 
sentries paraded the streets, and compelled the 
people to have a permit from these red-coats to go 
to their business places. 

So, Franklin Pierce has sought, by a similar 
policy, to terrify the American people now, by 
dealing with them as a nation of serfs. The only 
principle of action to which he has been constant 
has been that Mhich intermeddled with the federal 
and state elections. For this he violated all the 
compromises of the constitution. For this he fra- 




•JCJBnlttB 




M£yi:^s. OF AT.BAi: 
ms6 



REVIEW 341 

tcrnizcd political apostates of all parties and 
creeds. For this he increased offices and salaries 
in the country, and squandered the money belong- 
ing to the people, to multiply agents for elections 
in all the states. For this he perverted most 
shamefully the intent of the law, and turned out 
of the navy two hundred and one officers, without 
regard to their service or character, to make place 
for partisans and favorites. For this he has kept 
the nation two years out of a great national road 
to the Pacific, and compelled the people to pay 
for useless surveys of routes, in order to dodge the 
issue of committing himself to either route. 

Americans, behold your country ! Indian war 
rages. CaUfornia, New Mexico, and Oregon, are 
the scenes of bloody action now, and the soil of 
Kansas imbrued with fratricidal gore ! 

Mormons arc coming into the nation by thirty 
and forty thousand a year, and from INIr. Pierce's 
conduct in Utah we shall soon have that state, 
which has overturned all religious and civil au- 
thority, and outraged decency and morals, asking- 
admission into our Protestant Union as a Mormon 
state ! Nothing but the Kansas excitement will 
deprive Franklin Pierce of the glory of consum- 



342 REVIEW. 

mating tliat act. Kansas excitement ! Yes, 
Americans, it is more than civil strife. It is a 
dangerous presentiment that this Union may be 
dissolved. 0, my countrymen ! pause and con- 
sider for one moment the awful responsibility 
which now devolves upon you ! Franklin Pierce 
has outraged this people ; and his policy, to which 
his successor is committed, threatens to split the 
Union into fragments. Had he been but a man 
who respected the constitution of his countr}-, he 
would have honestly and faithfully executed the 
laws, and preserved peace and unity to the settlers 
of Kansas, no matter from what section they came. 
But, thank God, there is given to this oiFended 
people one way, and only one way, of escape at 
this moment, and that is the election of Millard 
Fillmore. If this shall be done, the Union and the 
constitution arc vindicated, and the interests of this 
nation will continue as one people. 

Let no false ambition seduce you from the path 
of duty ; let no desire for political power or place 
ever swerve you from tenaciously adhering to prin- 
ciple. Remember the lesson^ Franklin Pierce has 
taught you, that to gain the Presidency by fraud, 
is to divest it of all its honor ; and that it is far 



REVIEW. 343 



l)cttc'r to pursue the Avocation in life to Avhicli you 
are mentally adapted, than to aspire to that to 
which you are incompetent. Had Mr. Pierce con- 
tinued in New Hampshire, and contented himself 
by an honest attention to his business profession, 
instead of intriguing for the office nature neyer 
fitted him to fill, he might have lived and died 
respected by his fellow-men. He would haA'e 
saved himself the trial Avhich has proved his 
moral as well as intellectual deficiency, and been 
secured from temptations to self-aggrandizement 
which he was unable to resist, and prevented the 
shock to the peace and liberties of this people 
which years cannot overcome. 

My countrymen, if, on the fourth of March, 
1857, the conduct and actings of Franklin Pierce's 
executive were certainly to end forever, this 
analysis of his administration would not now 
be written. But such is not the fact. And, so 
far as the party which nominated James Buchanan 
are concerned, they have expressly avowed their 
purpose to perpetuate through him the identical 
policy which has now brought disaster and blood- 
shed upon our beloved country. And Pierce's 
administration, therefore, are as anxiously labor- 



344 REVIEW. 

ing to secure the election of James Buclianan, 
as if he, Mr. Pierce, "was now before the people. 
Let every American vote understandingiy in the 
next presidential election, and know that there is 
a perfect union and communion between the friends 
and supporters of these two men, Buchanan 
and Pierce ; and whoever votes for Buchanan 
votes just as much to perpetuate the dynasty of 
Franklin Pierce as though his name were on the 
ticket. 

Mr. Buchanan has endorsed the present national 
executive, and declares himself the platform which 
broke down the Missouri compromise, which com- 
promise he himself assisted to make, thirty-six 
years ago, the repeal of which has opened the flood- 
gates of internal discord and civil strife in the land. 

The platform of the Cincinnati Convention, 
which James Buchanan personates, if carried out, 
would lead to the inevitable degradation and ruin 
of the American people. It says, *' The time has 
come for the people of the United States to de- 
clare themselves in favor of free seas, and a pro- 
gressive free trade throughout the world." This 
doctrine is more baneful to the interests of the 
American laboring man than even a foreign war. 



REVIEW. 345 

Americans, what is free trade, but taking money 
directly from your pockets to pay the expenses of 
the government, instead of putting duties on 
imported goods, which you do not feel ? If 
James Buchanan is elected, you are to have equal 
taxation, which, allowing there are twenty-five 
millions of people, will make each man, woman, 
and child, have to pay three dollars apiece yearly. 

Mr. Buchanan approves, too, of ten cents a day 
as the wages of labor ! Think of this ! The 
Cincinnati Convention did not consider the ills we 
now endure were suQicient, while the government 
is pampering foreign and domestic pets, and squan- 
dering eighty millions of the people's money ; so it 
goes to taxing the poor to increase their burdens. 

Americans, it would be better now to expend 
one hundred millions to elect Millard Fillmore, 
whom you know and have tried, than to elect 
Buchanan. He may cost us our libe^rties. In the 
other case, the money would soon be returned to 
the people ten-fold, in the confidence and prog- 
ress and peace it would bring upon the whole 
Union. 

With a war within our own borders upon a ter^ 
ritory twice as large as England, Mr. Buchanan 
30 



34 G REVIEW. 

is pledged also to carry out the Ostend manifesto, 
if elected. Now what would ensue, Americans, 
if that were acted out ? We answer, war, imme- 
diately, with England, France, and Spain. And 
all commerce between the United States and the 
western coast of Europe would that moment 
cease. This would stop all importations of cotton 
and bread-stuffs in Europe, and precipitate those 
countries also into anarchy and revolution. 

The real meaning of that Ostend manifesto is 
concealed upon its face. It is deep, dark, and 
malignant ; and, if ever enforced, it ^vill be by 
making the American people wade through seas 
of blood ! As we have already seen, it was the 
work of European revolutionists and American 
demagogical tricksters. They who called them- 
selves Americans were mostly foreign born, with 
foreign hearts, like Soule & Co. To this degrad- 
ing business Mr. Buchanan became the pliant 
tool, because he wished to succeed Franklin 
Pierce at Washington, and was made to believe, 
therefore, this was the very best move. 

It is the interest, aim, and wish of all true 
Americans to remain at peace ; and, least of all, 
to go to war with our best customers abroad, from 



REVIEW. 347 

■whom we buy, and to wliom we sell. And it is 
all idle to try to force conviction upon the minds 
of the American people, that it is their duty to 
inflict a blow upon any nation, without their 
rights have been sacrificed or their principles in- 
vaded. 

We are already possessed of an area of terri- 
tory only one sixth less than the fifty-nine states 
of Europe put together. We are ten times larger 
than Great Britain and France, and one and a 
half times larger than Russia in Europe. Hence 
we have no occasion for getting into Avar to acquire 
more territory, for many years to come. Better 
far to be making treaties, to send our Protestant 
Bible, our tracts and missionaries, to enlighten 
Mexico's eight millions of benighted papists, and 
other countries upon this continent, than to bring 
a population of ignorant paupers and criminals, 
who could never appreciate our Anglo-American 
liberty, under the segis of American laws. 

Now, my countrymen, you see, precisely, what 
you have to expect by perpetuating the demo- 
cratic executive of Franklin Pierce. The same 
home and a worse foreign policy, the same anti- 
American feeling, and contemptible subserviency 



348 REVIEW. 

to the foreign Roman Catholic hierarchy. You 
ask, how do we know this 1 We answer, that it 
is as well understood that James Buchanan traded 
with the foreign Catholic vote in 1852, for Pierce, 
which put an Irish Catholic in the cabinet, from 
Pennsylvania, as that he defeated Henry Clay, 
for the presidency, in Pennsylvania, in 1844, 
when he practised the gross fraud upon that peo- 
ple, and declared to them that James K. Polk 
was a better tariff man than Henry Clay. But 
for this, Mr. Clay would have filled the office of 
President, to which he was most clearly elected, 
by the votes of his devoted countrymen. 

It is time there was an end to this compact 
sale of Irish and German votes. And the Amer- 
ican party fears not to say, that German and 
Irish bodies, armed under their own flag, must 
not, and shall not, as foreigners, interfere with 
our just political rights, to elevate aspiring ximer- 
ican demagogues, of any party. 



HON. EDWIN 0. PERRIN. 

The father of this American, the late Judge Perrin, f 
Maryland, became one of the earliest settlers of Ohio, an.. 
at Springfield, in that state, the subject of this sketch was 
born. The death of his father, and the consequent depri- 
vation of young Perrin's patrimony by the injudicious 
management of his estate, obliged him, like most of the 
public men of our country, to become the architect of his 
own fortune. After acquiring a suitable education by his 
industry and energy, he adopted the law as his profession, 
and studied with Judge Mason, of Ohio. Mr. Perrin sub- 
sequently removed to Memphis, Tennessee, where he mar- 
ried Miss Stanton, sister of the Hons. Richard and Fred- 
erick P. Stanton, late Representatives in Congress from 
Kentucky and Tennessee ; and who, estimable for every 
excellence and virtue, is also admired for her intelligence, 
beauty, and accomplishments. 

Under the administration of Gen. Taylor, Mr. Perrin was 
appointed navy agent of Memphis, and discharged the duties 
of that office Avith fidelity and faithfulness, until the acces- 
sion of Franklin Pierce, who found Mr. Perrin's political 
principles good cause for removal. He then removed to the 
city of New York to pursue his profession, and united with 
the great American party in the attempt to restore the 
country to its pristine integrity and purity. In the elections 
of 1855 he became the eloquent defender of American 
30* 



350 HON. EDWIN 0. PERRIN. 

principles upon the hustings, and the people greeted him 
with enthusiasm wherever he was heard in that cause. A 
company of volunteers, soon after the success of the Ameri- 
can ticket in New York, was organized as the " Perrin 
Guard," in that city; and in contending for the prize of a 
magnificent silver basket, presented by Mr. Perrin, the cap- 
tain of that company said : " Our distinguished guest, Edwin 
0. Perrin : One of Tennessee's ablest orators. AVe extend 
to him a cordial welcome to the home of his adoption, the 
Empire City of the Empire State. Long may he live to 
defend with eloquent tongue our common country and our 
country's cause ! Having adopted his name, let us emulate 
his devotion ! " Mr. Perrin closed his speech with the follow- 
ing: 

"The Volunteer Soldiery of New York: A standing 
army in time of peace, and no running army in time of war. 
Their discipline and courage at home have only been equalled 
by their patriotism and bravery abroad. May the junior 
American corps prove worthy descendants of their gallant 
seniors; maintaining for the future what ihey have so 
gallantly achieved in the past." 

After the nomination of the American Presidential ticket, 
Mr. Perrin appeared again in the political field, to press with 
eloquence and earnestness the election of Millard Fillmore 
to the chief magistracy of the nation. Like the heroes of 
our Revolutionary battles, he put aside all other pursuits for 
the American cause, and is now winning "golden opinions," 
througliout the State of New-York, for the intelligent per- 
suasions and thrilling appeals he is making to the patriotism 
of the people, and which are the more effectively enforced 
because of the impregnable defences which surround and 
elevate his character. 



COL. GARDNER B. LOCKE. 

Col. Gardner B. Locke was born in Rutherford 
County, Tennessee. His parents were Virginians, and his 
father served in the Revolutionary War. 

Col. Locke moved to Memphis when that city was but a 
small trading-point, and its principal commerce was with 
the Indians. He has been uiuleviating, through life, in his 
devotion to the principles which now control and influence 
the action of the American party, and was always a warm 
admirer and personal friend of Henry Clay. 

Col. Locke is remarkable for the untiring energy and 
pertinacity which he brings to the accomplishment of his 
undertakings, and is a prominent and active advocate of the 
election of Mr. Eillmore. He has been elected by the peo- 
ple to the mayoralty of Memphis, and has filled other posts 
of trust and confidence in his native state. 

Col. Locke has a strong hold upon the respect and con- 
fidence of the people of the West. His faithfulness to 
duty, and the integrity and uprightness of his character, 
are the sure guarantees that his popularity will be as lasting 
as it is elevated. 



ALFRED BREWSTER ELY 

"Was born in Monson, Hampden County, Massachusetts, 
on the 30th of January, A. D. 1817, and is now, conse- 
quently, in the fortieth year of his age. His father is the 
Rev. Alfred Ely, D.D., who for fifty years has been pastor of 
the Orthodox Congregational church in Monson ; and whose 
good report, as one of the noblest and best of Christian men 
and devoted ministers, is in all the churches. His mother 
was a daughter of Major-General Timothy Newell, who 
served with distinction in the Revolutionary AYar. Through 
his grandmother, on the father's side, INIr. Ely traces his 
descent directly, and with only five removes, from Elder 
William Brewster, one of the original Plymouth pilgrims, 
and famous among the passengers of the Mayflower. "With 
such an ancestry, he may well be proud of his decided 
American and Puritan proclivities. 

Mr. Ely at an early age evinced talents of a superior 
character. His natural abilities were of high order, and 
his facilities for acquiring an education were, fortunately, 
excellent. He was industrious as a student, and, having 
finished his academical course, entered the freshman class of 
Amherst College in the fill of 1832. Her3 he remained 
four years, and graduated with distinguished honor. Mr. 
Ely left college in the fall of 183G, and, after spending a 
year in Brattlcboro' , Vermont, as the principal of the high 
school in that village, went to Fayctteville, North Carolina, 



ALFRED BRETV'STER ELY. ii'O'6 

"where he remained t-^o years, as assistant to his old pre- 
ceptor, Rev. S. Colton, then principal of the Donaldson 
Academy in that place. Thence he went to New York, and 
entered upon the duties of a cashier of one of the banks in 
that state. But our limited space will not allow of a 
detailed account of Mr. Ely's rapid rise to an eminent posi- 
tion at the bar, and in the political party Avhose cause he has 
espoused. Even in college Mr. Ely was noted for what is 
now called Native Americanism. His first public perform- 
ance, after leaving college, was of a Native American char- 
acter ; and his first lyceum lecture, delivered at Spring- 
field, soon after he went there, was decidedly of that stamp. 
Consequently, when the American movement of 1844 was 
first started, Mr. Ely was already indoctrinated a»d prepared 
to act. He was an able and indefatigable champion in the 
election of December, 1844, which resulted in the election 
of an American mayor. He participated in the convention 
held at Philadelphia, presided over by that noble man and 
true-hearted patriot, General Henry A. S. Dearborn, of 
IMassachusetts. In the enumeration of the principles in the 
declaration emanating from that body, Mr. Ely's mind and 
hand were both conspicuous. Always prominent and efficient 
at all the subsequent conventions, it is unnecessary to 
enumerate them. In 184G, Mr. Ely introduced the 
patriotic Order of United Americans into Massachusetts ; 
the first chapter thereof (Hancock chapter) being instituted 
in his office, by Hon. Thomas R. Whitney, of New York. 
Rising rapidly through the diflferent gradations of this noble 
order, jNIr. Ely has attained to the highest position (that of 
Arch Grand Sachem), being the third in succession; the 
other two having been Hon. Thomas R. "Whitney, M.C., and 
Hon. Jacob Broom, M.C. He still holds this high honor, 
and is the head and front of that purely American body of 



354 ALFRED BREWSTER ELY. 

true patriots, who form the breakwater against which the 
floods and storms of the factional elements beat in vain. 
Thej cannot be driven from their position, although treason 
may thwart their efforts, and traitors betray them. If there 
is gratitude in the American heart of Massachusetts, the 
subject of this brief memoir will be rewarded for his many 
years of hard labor in behalf of the cause dear to all 
Americans. Possessing executive talents of the highest 
order, and gifted with a large stock of common sense, and 
great independence and integrity of character, he is rarely 
wrong in his judgments, and is seldom turned from his 
opinions. He is eminently a national man. Never willing 
to commit an aggression, he is always the first to resent one. 
With his stern sense of right, and his unflinching will to 
vindicate that right, into no safer hands could the welfare 
of any party or the people be committed. 

One of the Old Guard Americans, firmest and truest 
when least was to be gained, Mr. Ely deserves the gratitude, 
the respect, and the warm esteem and confidence, of all 
true patriots and Americans. 





^// cc /y /? (r'/^^^^ a ^_ 




MR. SIDNEY KOPMAN. 

The father of this sketch was the late Louis Kopman, 
of New York. He was introduced into the United States 
by Robert Southey, the poet, and William Roscoe, the his- 
torian, of Liverpool, and was eminent in his day as one of 
the largest importers of British goods in New York and 
Savannah, Georgia. Mr. Kopman was a scholar, an ac- 
complished gentleman, and an unobtrusive Christian, in 
communion with the Church of England ; and after enjoying 
for three score and ten years the most faultless reputation 
in erery relation in life, he has transmitted these excellences 
of character to his son, whose portrait appears in these 
pages. 

Mr. Sidney Kopman was born in New York, and was 
educated to the mercantile profession ; and, after a long ex- 
perience as clerk in his own city, he became a merchant in 
Memphis, Tennessee. During the period of the Mexican 
war, he acted as the efficient chief clerk to Capt. Wm. R. 
Latimer, of the United States Navy, at the Pcnsacola Navy 
Yard. He there founded a lodge of the benevolent society 
of Odd Fellows, and for many years has been an active and 
prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. He con- 
tributed the leading editorials of the Pensecola Gazette, 
when in Florida. 

After the IMexican war closed, j\Ir. Kopman was among 
the first to make a commercial exploration to California, by 



356 MR. SIDNEY KOPMAN. 

the way of Cape Horn. In this perilous voyage of six 
months, he most miraculously escaped shipwreck at Terra 
del Fuego, the extreme point of Patagonia. He was at 
Juan Fernandez, visited the Island of Madeira, was present 
at the opening of the Chilian congress, and slept two weeks 
upon the Andes Mountains. He was presented, with several 
other Americans, to the Emperor of Brazil, at Rio Janeiro, 
and penetrated the interior of that state to visit the diamond 
mines ; and, finally, after the completion of a most hazard- 
ous voyage of twenty-three thousand miles, with the attend- 
ant evils, at one time, of a threatened famine, he settled 
down in San Francisco and Sacramento, California, for 
some months, to make a survey of the country, and then 
return to New York, by the way of Mexico. 

The Mercantile Library of his native city, New York, 
was for many years an object of the deepest solicitude to 
Mr. Kopman, and to whose energy and action, as a member 
of that association, may be attributed much of the present 
position and standing of the institution. He has recently 
been elected an honorary member of the historical society 
at Madison, Wisconsin, 

Mr. Kopman early enlisted in the great national move- 
ment to regenerate the country, and has been one of the 
most earnest and active members of the American party. 
In the formation of organizations in the country, he has 
efficiently contributed in the three past years, by inducing 
prominent men, who have visited New York, to unite with 
the American order, which prepared the way for their indi- 
vidual cooperation when they returned to their own homes. 
From four to five hundred members, Avho are now exerting 
an extended influence in their respective localities, gave 
their first adhesion to the cause under the earnest pleadings 
of this true American; while the author cannot neglect 



MR. SIDNEY KOPMAN. 357 

to ackno-\^-lcdge the valuable data furnislied by Mr. Kopman 
in connection "with this work. 

Few possess more extended literary acquirements, or a 
better-cultivated taste, than INIr. Kopman ; and his remark- 
able gift of remembering all that he has read would not 
make it inappropriate to style him a moving cyclopedia 
of useful knowledge. But the crowning virtue of the man 
is in the beauty of his character, his high moral rectitude, 
and his pure integrity. 
31 



THOMAS H. CLAY, ESQ. 

Thomas H. Clay, Esq., the second son of the illustrious 
Henry Clay, -was born in Lexington, Ky., on the 23d Sep- 
tember, 1803. He was educated partly at the United 
States Military Academy at West Point, and in Transyl- 
vania University, Lexington, Ky. 

He studied law in 1825 and '26 with Judge Boyle, Chief 
Justice of the State of Kentucky, and one of the judges of 
the Court of Appeals. In 1826 he was licensed to practise 
law by the Court of Appeals, consisting of Judges Boyle, 
Ouseley, and Mills. Early in life he became disgusted with 
the practice of the profession, and abandoned it. 

In 1837 Mr. Clay married the daughter of a French 
gentleman residing near Lexington, by whom he has a 
family of five children, three daughters and two sons. 

He has never aspired to any political station ; but, having 
been appointed a delegate to the National Council, held in 
Philadelphia, in February last, by the American Councils 
of the Ashland District, he thought it his duty to attend 
the Council and Nominating Convention, to which, as a 
delegate, he was also appointed. 

Endorsing fully the action of the Council and Conven- 
tion, he ardently desires the success of Fillmore and Donel- 
son at the approaching election for President and Yice- 
President. Perhaps in the election of no individual could 
the son of Henry Clay feel so great an interest as in that 



THOMAS H. CLAY, ESQ. 359 

of his father's old and tried friend, INIillard Fillmore ; and, 
actuated bj the holiest love for the Union, and the common 
•welfare of all sections, that great patriot, statesman, and 
Christian, declared, as he went down to his grave, conscious 
of having given his best services and his ^Yhole heart to his 
country, that he preferred and wished that Millard Fill- 
more might be elected by the people to rule over it. 

Thomas 11. Clay a,vows his belief that, did his father still 
live, he would now preside over the destinies of the Ameri- 
can party, as the only national party, and the last refuge 
of the American Union. He himself has, within a few 
weeks, been elected to the Presidency of the Council of the 
State of Kentucky, and, honoring the high name of his 
illustrious parent, is laboring to save the Union in its pres- 
ent emergency. 



GENERAL NATHAN RANNEY. 

TuE subject of this sketch was born in Bethlehem, in 
the State of Connecticut, the 27th of April, 1797. In the 
war with England, 1812, he entered the army of the United 
States, though but sixteen years of age; and his deter- 
mined bravery, "and fearlessness in the discharge of his 
duties, made him prominent in every battle, and exposed 
him to every danger in the thickest of the fight. But, his 
only purpose in enlisting in the war being a patriotic one, 
he was steadfast in his refusal of all promotion tendered 
him, and adhered to his original intention of remaining in 
the service during the five years for which he had enlisted. 
It cannot be doubted that, had his ambition led him to a 
different decision, he would long since have occupied the 
highest rank among the gallant men of the army. 

In 1819, Gen. Ranney located in St, Louis, Missouri, 
where, as a prominent member of society and an enterpris- 
ing merchant, he has eminently assisted in the opening 
prosperity of St. Louis, and possesses a hold ujion the con- 
fidence and esteem of the community equal to that enjoyed 
by any other resident. 

In 1827, he became a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. And so faithful, active, and consistent, has he 
proved, in the discharge of every Christian duty belonging 
to his religious profession, that he has held the important 
and responsible position of elder, almost ever since, in the 



GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 361 

congregation ^vith which he worships. "All that I am is 
through the blessing of God," has been the glorious sen- 
timent which has emulated this noble American to action, 
and given him a name that kings, with their scepti-es, might 
wisely envy. 

In 1855, the convention of the soldiers of 1812 met in 
Philadelphia. Gen. Ranney addressed that assembly in 
these words : 

" Fellow-Citizexs and Fellow-Soldier.s: Much has 
been said in relation to the militia of this country, and their 
services in the late war with Great Britain. They are, 
indeed, the bulwark and safety of our country ; but, while 
just honors have been paid to them, the gallant spirits who 
fought by their side Avith equal honor and equal success — 
the soldiers of the regular army of 1812 — were not men- 
tioned. I propose, on this occasion, to make a few remarks 
in relation to the regular soldiers of that eventful war. 

"It will be recollected hy most of you, perhaps, that 
the soldiers and officers of 1812 came from the first fam- 
ilies of the land. They entered the army, not as mercena- 
ries, but from patriotic motives, with a determination to 
serve their country, and drive back the myrmidons of 
Britain from our sacred soil. [Applause.] I will give 
you briefly the history of one of those soldiers, Avhich, with 
some modifications, may be the history of every soldier in 
the regular army. 

•• There was a lad belonging to one of the most I'cspecta- 
ble families of the United States, who, at the age of si.xteen 
years, was the fiivored of his family. At that age' he 
left his home and his school, and enlisted as a private in 
the 29lh Regiment for five years. His father's brother, 
•who was a colonel in the army, obtained an order for the 
boy's discharge. The discharge came, and was refused. 
[Great applause.] A commission was also oflfered him, 
and that, too, was refused. This lad served under General 
Wool. He was one of the three hundred who met Gov- 
ernor Provost eighteen miles from Plattsburg, and who cut 
31^^ 



362 GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 



their way, inch by inch, until they reached the banks of the 
Saranac. He Avas one of thirty who crossed the Sarauac 
and set fire with hay and tar to the underbrush of dry pine 
directly under the guns of the British buttery, and returned 
across the Saranac by floating a hundred yards down that 
stream, and fainting from the loss of blood. He was but 
one of a regiment through whose instrumentality, in part, 
the British lion was made to turn in defeat from the ^Vmer- 
ican eagle. [Applause.] This same person, in the dark- 
ness of night, led twenty men into a British town of five 
hundred inhabitants, and where British guards were sta- 
tioned to defend it, and took three distinguished prisoners, 
and carried them safely into the American camp, with loss 
of only one man wounded. He was made a sergeant, and 
afterwards a provost-marshal, that being the highest non- 
commissioned officer in the army. But he did not seek the 
life of a soldier as a profession. He determined to serve 
his country as a patriot, and when national honor and na- 
tional rii^hts were vindicated to return into civil life. Now, 
in the far West, the lad then, but man now, has reared an 
interesting family, and maintains a good name there, and 
commands the respect and honor of his fellow-men. [Voices 
— "Give us his name! ''J I "11 come to that by and by. 
I know, fellow-soldiers, that so dearly \locs that man love 
the quiet and unostentatious position which he now occu- 
pies, that were Congress at this day to offer to confer upon 
him a title of Lieutenant-General of our army, or any 
other trust of a like character, that he would refuse it. If 
he has vServed his country, it alone is satisfaction. He has 
but discharged his duty. [Applause.] 

Eellow-soldiers, many of us will never meet each other 
again on this side of Jordan. This meeting is interesting 
to me — more so than any which it has been my fortune to 
ever attend, since the scenes of that war. We have all 
fou'j-ht our last fiiiht — but we have still the warfare of life 
before us. Let us. then, so contend that we shall win a 
crown of victory, and be led Ity the eternal Cajjtain of our 
salvation to our last, our eternal home in heaven ! [Great 
applause, and cries of 'Tell us the name of that boy." J 



1 



GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 363 

Fello-R^-soldiers, lie stands now before you. [Renewed ap- 
plause, and nine cheers for General Ranney.]" 

In 1836, General Ranney was induced to accept the post 
of Brigadier-General in the Missouri militia; Avhich he 
filled with honor to himself, and entire acceptability to those 
under his command. This constitutes the only military 
situation he has consented to occupy in his adopted state. 

In politics, he was an original Jackson democrat, and 
until the American party was organized he was well 
known as a leader in the ranks of the democracy of the 
state. He was among the first to enrol his name upon the 
records of the party to which he is now attached, and of 
which he is a firm, bold, and eloquent advocate. He feels, 
as do his brethren everywhere, all over America, that the 
safety of the Union and of the nation depends upon guard- 
ing the ballot-box from the inroads that are being made 
upon it by the influx of foreigners ; opposition to extremists 
both of the South and the North ; a conservative, peace- 
lovinof, and country-loving band of patriots, who are ready 
and willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of their 
native land. In his youth, he fought for his country ; in 
his manhood, he has prayed for it ; and in his old age, he is 
ready to die for it. 

The same influences-which led Gen. Ranney to battle for 
his country when a youth of only sixteen summers have 
again brought him into the present American revolution ; 
and to an immense gathering of freemen in the rotunda of 
the court-house of St. Louis, in March, 1856, who liad 
convened to ratify the American nominations for President 
and Vice President, he spoke as follows : 

" Amkric.\xs : We are lioro, not as Northern men from 
the North, not as Southern men from the South, but as 



o 



64 GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 



Union men of the United States. We meet to give a hearty 
sanction to the Philadelphia nomination of President and 
Vice President. 

" Wc have had but one Washington and Jackson, one 
Webster and Clay, and but one Calhoun. 

" Fillmore and Donelson are good men, — the best in the 
Union. A better, a stronger, a more suitable nomination, 
cannot be made by any party, nor one better calculated to 
succeed. Three times in my life I have rejoiced with ex- 
ceeding great joy ; first -when, in 1814. at Plattsburgh, one 
thousand four hundred Americans defeated fourteen thou- 
sand of Lord Wellington's best troops." 

"7? -T^ "T? 'ff tP 

" The constitution must be preserved from violation. 
The one billion five hundred million dollars of slave property 
is nothing, compared Avith the worth of the Union. Ay. can 
the ten thousand millions of property in the world purchase 
of us the fame of Washington, or the memory of York- 
town, of Monmouth, of Saratoga, or of Plattsburgh and 
New Orleans ? No ! the Union must — it shall — it 
will be saved ! The nation looks to us for its safety. The 
good men of the North will help us, and our prospects are 
good. We take no step backward ; our platform is the con- 
stitution and the rights of the states. 

"The Christian who throws away his Bible has no re- 
ligion. The American who throws away the constitution 
has no country. Americans, let our party do right, and 
act right, if the heavens fall ! 

" The third time of my joy was at the nomination of 
Fillmore and Donelson. My reasons are, that the nominees 
are worthy ; that the country looked for such men, with the 
determination to elect them." 

On the 4th of June, 1856, the American party of Mis- 
souri held a mass meeting at Hannibal, in that state. Gen. 
Ranney was present to enforce the principle that " Ameri- 
cans alone should rule America." And he did it with a 



GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 365 

loill, ■wbich found its way with electric power into the hearts 
of thousands. He told the people that 

" For more than thirty years he was a consistent, an un- 
flinching democrat, and that he had acted with them in 
good faith as long as they had continued honest and pure in 
principles ; but two years ago his conviction was certain that 
the democratic party had changed, had become corrupt; 
and he had done what every honest man should do, — thrown 
himself body and soul into the great American cause ; that 
he had become a member of the only party truly national, 
and truly devoted to the preservation of this Union." 

At a convention held in Burlington, Iowa, in October, 
1851. a member from St. Louis, in a set speech, declared 
that " while the rains of heaven were refreshing and 
fructifying the earth, and swelling the tide of the Missis- 
sippi, he thanked his God that not one drop came from 
South Caholina ! ! ! " 

Gen. Ranney, his personal friend, born in New England, 
but loving the whole Union, rebuked him, with this signifi- 
cant language, for his wanton attack upon a sister state : 
"Why, sir," said he, "attempt to goad men on to mad- 
ness, who were placed under different circumstances with 
ourselves, and of which we know but little ? " 

He then referred to the glorious history of this chivalric 
and heroic state, — to the memory of Marion, Sumpter, 
Greene, and others ; to the battles of Yorktown, Cowpcns, 
and the Eutaw Springs, and asked the President, in a mild 
but emphatic manner, if all these were to be forgotten. Ho 
stated that there was one delegate in that assembly whose 
body had been scarred, and whose limbs had been disfigured, 
while fighting side by side with the Carolinian against our 
ancient foe in the war of 1812. 

He also referred to the choicest blood of South Carolina 



366 GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 

^Vhicli had enriched the plains of Mexico, and said, "Mr. 
President, shall we be no longer allowed to revere and 
honor these events, and be compelled to steel our hearts 
against the noble actors in them ? 

" Sir, the rains of heaven, falling upon the eastern slope 
of the Alleghany Mountains, refreshing and fructifying the 
soil of South Carolina, ran some of it down her rivers, and 
some of these ' drops ' helped to swell the tide of the sea 
that floated the Constitution, the Guerriere, the Wasp, and 
the Hornet, and enabled the American navy to obtain vic- 
tory and renown," 

Said Gen. Ranney, " Is this gallant state to be made 
accountable for all the vagaries of some of her Hotspurs, 
and mistaken friends ? 

" Why not attack good old New England, the land of 
churches and school-houses, and make her accountable for 
the infamy of the Hartford Convention, and the infernal 
acts of her hosts of abolitionists, who cast aside the laws of 
the land, and the authority of the Bible, and ridicule our 
holy religion? No, Mr. President," said Gen. Ranney. 
"I love New England, and I love South Carolina; and, 
with all their fliults, I will love them still." 

As president of the ]\Iissouri Bible Society, Gen. Ran- 
ney is also known for his distinguished efforts to advance 
the circulation of the Word of God, as well as diffuse its 
spirit among his fellow-men. 

Gen. Ranney is the artificer of his own fortune, and his 
industry, intelligence, and energy, have more than supplied 
any deficiency of early culture ; while the history of his 
life is replete with every virtue, and, without flaw or blem- 
ish, may well serve as a model for every American patriot. 



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